Comelec to summon Chiz Escudero over contractor’s campaign donation

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will summon Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero next week to explain the P30 million in campaign donations he received from a contractor for his 2022 senatorial bid. 

Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said a show cause order (SCO) will be issued against Escudero after Centerways Construction and Development Inc. president Lawrence Lubiano, through his legal counsel, met with the poll body last week. 

“Nag-appear na abogado niya, ‘yung contractor,” Garcia said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum. 

(The contractors’ lawyers appeared before the Comelec.)

“Ngayong linggo na ito, ‘yung kandidato na nabigyan ng contractor ay may sulat na po siya para mag-appear sa susunod na linggo,” Garcia said.

(This week, the candidate who received the donation will be issued a letter to apper next week.)

Earlier, the Comelec issued a SCO against Lubiano asking him to explain his millions-worth of campaign donation to Escudero and defend why he should not be charged of an election offense for violating Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC). He was also asked to appear before the Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD). 

Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code prohibits "natural and juridical persons who hold contracts or sub-contracts to supply the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions or instrumentalities, with goods or services or to perform construction or other works" from making political donations.

Centerways not only holds government contracts, it is among the 15 contractors named by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as having been awarded 20% of the flood control project contracts issued by the government.

Lubiano previously admitted donating P30 million to Escudero's senatorial bid in 2022 during a House hearing. However, he said the donation came from his own pocket.

Garcia, who earlier denied singling out Escudero, also said Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte were among those being investigated by the poll body over alleged illegal donations to their 2022 campaign. 

“I would like to confirm lang na yung nasa listahan ng PCIJ ay kasama sa aming listahan. Yung nakalagay na pangalan sa PCIJ, nandun sa amin. Kandidato dun tig-isa sa President at vice presidente e. At may kasama din ilang senador dun,” said Garcia. 

(I would like to confirm that the individuals in the PCIJ report were also included in our list. One was a candidate for president, the other for vice president. There were also senators in our list.)

An earlier report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism alleged that Marcos and Duterte received tens of millions of pesos in campaign contributions from public works contractors despite a provision in the OEC which prohibits those seeking public office from accepting contributions from entities that do business with the government.

The Palace said Marcos is willing to be probed over the reported contributions. — BM, GMA Integrated News