The collapse of several government-owned buildings and public structures in the Cebu earthquake will most likely add more fire to the ongoing investigations into various graft-tainted infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Parallel investigations are taking place at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee and the newly created Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI). Being grilled in these investigations were unscrupulous private contractors in cahoots with errant DPWH district engineers allegedly involved in the ghost flood control projects funded under the annual government budget.
The initial investigations have so far unmasked ‘proponents’ of the questioned 2025 budget ‘insertions,’ including senators and House members of the 19th and 20th Congresses who were namedropped by these contractors and DPWH district engineers in their sworn testimonies at these public hearings.
One of those named was former Senate president Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, who was first implicated at the House infra committee hearing. Before he was ousted as Senate chief, Escudero was directly linked to one of the 15 contractors identified by President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM) as having cornered P545 billion worth of flood control projects of the DPWH for the past three years.
Lawrence Lubiano, owner of Centerways Construction and Development Corp., admitted at the House public hearing that he contributed to the election campaign of his ‘good friend’ Escudero during the May 2022 national and local elections.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia announced the seven-man poll body has ‘invited’ Escudero to face investigation into allegations he might have violated the country’s election law on the limits of campaign contributions.
Under the Omnibus Election Code, candidates must submit their individual statement of contributions and expenses (SOCE) whether they won or lost in the elections. Garcia strongly took exception to the accusation that the Comelec ‘singled out’ Escudero in their probe of candidates who accepted donations from contractors with business interests or projects with the government.
Garcia explained Escudero was summoned first because the contractor already admitted giving P30 million to the senator’s campaign fund. Subsequently, Escudero himself confirmed this in media interviews. Thus, the Comelec looked into Escudero’s SOCE submission, Garcia cited.
According to Garcia, Lubiano already appeared before them at the Comelec. Lubiano explained his ‘campaign donation’ to Escudero was done in his ‘private capacity’ and that the money came from his personal account and not from his company’s finances, the Comelec chief added. Garcia disclosed they asked Escudero to appear next week at 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. Senador po yun. Umamin naman po siya,’ Garcia cited.
‘Hihintayin na lang po natin ang sasabihin ng kandidato dahil sa batas parehong liable ang nagbigay at tumanggap,’ he pointed out. If proven liable, Garcia added, the donor and the candidate will both face imprisonment of one year to six years and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
At the outset, Garcia announced that he has already ‘inhibited’ himself from any activities related to the Comelec investigation into Escudero’s case. Formerly one of the most sought-after election lawyers, Garcia represented Escudero’s runningmate, ex-senator Grace Poe, who ran but lost in the May 2016 presidential elections.
Also during our news forum, Garcia confirmed 54 other presidential, vice presidential, senatorial, governor and mayoral candidates who ran in the May 12, 2022 elections are also facing Comelec investigation for the same accusation. Included in the Comelec list were those named in the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report. Based on the PCIJ report, both PBBM and Vice President Sara Duterte allegedly received donations from some of the 15 contractors being grilled at the Senate and the ICI.
While the PCIJ reported having based their list on Comelec records, Garcia noted stark differences in the names of particular contributor-companies from the SOCE list of the Comelec’s political and finance affairs department. Garcia instructed the poll body’s 38-man political and finance affairs department to set aside for the meantime the SOCE evaluation of the May 2025 mid-term elections. The Comelec chief directed their SOCE investigators to focus instead on the 2022 national and local elections.
‘Anyway, there is enough time for our SOCE investigations before the next national and local elections in May 2028,’ Garcia pointed out. Under our country’s election laws, Garcia pointed to the five-year prescriptive period within which the Comelec can run after violations. If not filed within this time frame, an election offense can no longer be prosecuted, he stressed.
This is the reason why, Garcia added, he has been asking the Department of Budget and Management to allow the Comelec to beef up its political and finance affairs department, given the three-year cycle of elections in our country.
So for now, it will do well for PBBM, Vice President and other May 2025 candidates named in the PCIJ report to go over their respective records of campaign donations.
They better come out clean as a whistle on their SOCEs. That’s all that Comelec could ask from the candidates.
Meanwhile, the paths of PBBM and Vice President Sara did not cross yesterday when they separately visited the sites hardest hit by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake. The powerful tremor rocked Cebu and several other Central Visayas provinces. It struck around 9:59 Tuesday evening or after office hours, when most people were already in their homes. As of yesterday, government authorities reported at least 72 individuals were declared quake casualties.
The previous day, PBBM flew to Masbate, devastated in the latest Typhoon Opong that visited us this year. As of latest count, 40 people perished directly related to the ‘tri-phoon’ Mirasol-Nando-Opong. One of the country’s most active volcanos, Taal in Batangas, threatens to erupt anew while building up steam.
Sadly, the string of natural calamities demands a ‘disaster-in-chief’ in full command over the chaotic situation usually arising in such life-or-death emergencies.