Sotto: Solons accepting campaign funds from contractors could face Ethics complaint

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said Wednesday that lawmakers accepting campaign funds from government contractors could face a complaint before the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges. 

Sotto said that candidates who accepted campaign donations should, at the very least, be asked to explain, stressing that such a move is prohibited. 

“Sana ay nag-ingat…mahirap nga naman, baka hindi nila alam na may ganung kabawalan pero bawal ‘yun eh,” the Senate President told reporters. 

(They should’ve been careful. Probably they didn’t know that it’s prohibited but they shouldn’t have done that.) 

Asked if such could be a ground to file a complaint before the Ethics committee even without final findings from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Sotto said, “Oh yes.”

He, however, emphasized that a formal complaint needs to be filed first either by another senator or by an ordinary citizen.

“Meron talagang posibilidad diyan kasi kami namang senador, we're open for public scrutiny. Since before kahit na ngayon, kahit nung ako leader noon, basta merong nagko-complaint sa isang senador, sinasabi namin edi magfile ng complaint sa Ethics committee,” he added. 

(There’s really a possibility because we are senators, we're open for public scrutiny. Since before even now, even when I was the leader then, if there are complaints with a senator, we encourage them to file a complaint with the Ethics Committee.) 

Comelec chairperson George Garcia said Wednesday that the poll body is set to issue a show-cause order to the president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc. regarding his P30 million donation to the 2022 senatorial campaign of Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. 

Garcia said that the Comelec will direct Lawrence Lubiano to explain the campaign donation and defend why he should not be charged with an election offense for violating Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC). — RF, GMA Integrated News