The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has initiated an investigation into campaign donations following the admission by Centerways Construction President Lawrence Lubiano that he contributed ₱30 million to Senator Chiz Escudero’s 2022 campaign.
This was confirmed by COMELEC Chairman Atty. George Erwin Garcia during an interview on “At The Forefront” of Bilyonaryo News Channel.
“I’ll be very honest po, what compelled the COMELEC was the admission. When it was admitted by Mr. Lubiano that he contributed ₱30 million to the campaign, to the organization of then candidate Senator Chiz Escudero,” Garcia said.
He added, “And then the day after that, nagkaroon ng confirmation si Senator Chiz Escudero as regards to the receipt of the ₱30 million. So doon nagsimula ang Comelec, aside from the fact na naging napakainit ang isyu ng flood control projects.”
Garcia explained that under the Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) Law, COMELEC typically cannot initiate investigations on its own without a filed case. The agency can normally act motu proprio only for excess campaign expenditures or erroneous SOCE filings.
“Supposedly po kasi, under the SOCE Law, the Comelec cannot motu proprio conduct investigation, there should be somebody who should be filing a proper case. Motu proprio ng Comelec can only be doon sa excess expenses, and then ‘yung mga erroneous filing ng SOCE,” Garcia explained.
“However, in this particular instance, we conducted motu proprio and we found out that indeed, there are 55 contractors who contributed for 2022,” he added.