Villar's net worth rises faster than GNP

A presidential campaign costs hundreds of millions if not billions. Manny Villar reportedly spent over half a billion in ads alone in October-December last year. Yet if he wins, he stands to earn just 60k pesos a month, which is in a 6-year term a little over 3million after taxes. Villar's spending is way over the top but the other candidates are also spending a small fortune.

Using available data from the Internet, below is a table of the candidates net worth over the years and the Philippines GNP. The data comes from a PCIJ article on the candidates rise in wealth despite poll expenses. The Philippine GNP data is from the IMF's World Economic Outlook. I used the previous available data to fill up the years with no available data. Then I prepared a simple line graph to see the relative rise in the figures.

As was observed by the PCIJ, the candidates’ rise in net worth typically came after an election year - while they were supposedly serving in office, while they should not have benefited from business from which they should have divested their interests. PCIJ also observed that the spike in their net worth even defied the slump in both local and global economy because of the financial crisis in 1997 and 2008.

The graph clearly show that Villar's (and to some extentGibo's ) rise in net worth is higher than the rise in GNP. The red line shows the Philippines GNP in current prices, the orange line is Villar's net worth, the green is Gibo's, Erap's is the dark orange, Dick's is the pink one, Noynoy's is the pitiful yellow languishing at the bottom. Erap's net worth rose sharply after getting elected in 1998. Gibo's net worth rose because of some lucky inheritance.  What is Villar's excuse?

	Noynoy	Erap	Gordon	Gibo	Villar	Phil., GNP (US$)
1992		3.41	8.3		75.43	52.982
1993		3.41	8.3		75.43	54.368
1994		3.41	8.3		75.43	64.084
1995		3.41	11.87		75.43	75.525
1996		3.41	11.87		319.92	84.371
1997		3.41	11.87		319.92	83.736
1998	8.7	3.41	11.87	80.17	319.92	66.596
1999	8.7	35.86	11.87	80.17	319.92	76.157
2000	8.7	35.86	11.87	80.17	319.92	75.912
2001	8.7	35.86	11.87	74.54	319.92	71.216
2002	11.98	35.86	24.92	74.54	481.5	76.814
2003	11.98	35.86	24.92	74.54	481.5	79.634
2004	11.98	35.86	24.92	74.54	481.5	86.930
2005	13.46	35.86	24.92	232.43	759.82	98.829
2006	13.46	35.86	24.92	232.43	759.82	117.534
2007	13.94	35.86	26.52	232.43	759.82	144.043
2008	13.94	35.86	26.52	232.43	1050.00	166.909