An expanded and stronger coalition of civil society organizations have consolidated their core competencies and networks into a concerted effort to conduct more expansive monitoring of campaign finance in the coming 2010 presidential elections. The coalition includes the Consortium on Electoral Reforms (CER), a media consortium led by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines (ASPAP), a legal and advocacy group headed by the Lawyers League for Liberty (LIBERTAS) and the Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN).

The 2010 monitoring effort focuses on election expenses (receipted and un-receipted), election contributions and sources of income, and use or abuse of state resources in partisan activities. Training and reference materials on campaign finance monitoring are being provided to a core group of volunteer-monitors and journalists. This initiative includes an advocacy component in support of transparency and accountability in campaign finance, as well as public information activities intended to raise public awareness.

Parallel and complementary activities involves research, field monitoring, training and capacity building for media and civil society monitors, investigative reporting, advocacy and information/education fora focused on the theme of “Money and Politics” before, during and after the 2010 presidential elections. This activity will serve as a baseline project for the presidential elections, while expanding monitoring for the synchronized senatorial elections.

The Money and Politics campaign likewise heightens awareness on the importance of monitoring campaign expenditures of political parties and presidential candidates, and identify areas of potential legal and administrative reform.