SECTION 95 (c) of the Omnibus Election Code provides that no contribution for purposes of partisan political activity shall be made directly or indirectly by “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.”
Violation of this prohibition is an election offense under Section 262 of the same Code, punishable with imprisonment ranging from 1 to 6 years without probation as an option.
The accused will also be disqualified from holding public office and deprived of the right to vote.
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Senate President Francis Escudero admitted last week that Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., was his campaign contributor in the 2022 elections.
Lubiano contributed 30 million pesos. Escudero, however, denied involvement in any flood control projects in his home province of Sorsogon or in other places in the country.
Centerways is based in Sorsogon – Escudero’s home province. It was awarded 75 contracts in the years 2022 and 2023, mostly in the Bicol region.
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Centerways is one of the top 15 contractors currently being scrutinized by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for their involvement in several big-ticket infrastructure projects.
Marcos said last week that 20 percent of the 545-million-peso budget for flood control projects was awarded to these contractors.
Escudero says he is not involved in the award of these contracts. What he forgets is that the Senate is involved in the budget process by passing the general appropriation law together with the House of Representatives.
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Does it matter that Escudero’s election donor was the company president and not the construction firm itself?
It may be argued that the person that holds the construction contracts within the purview of the law is Centerways, the corporation, and not Lubiano who is merely its president.
Our laws subscribe to the fiction that a corporation has a personality separate and distinct from that of its incorporators or officers.
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Will this legal surfeit absolve Lubiano of criminal liability?
He may argue that he has not entered into government contracts in his personal capacity or as a single proprietorship.
Can Lubiano say that, as an individual and separately from Centerways, he is not holding infrastructure contracts within the prohibition of the election code?
And may the donee be held guilty of an election offense when the donor himself has a legal excuse?
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It is not easy to answer these questions without an investigation by the law department of the Commission on Elections.
Escudero’s SOCE is not the only relevant document. The law requires a campaign donor to file with the Comelec a report “under oath stating the amount of each contribution, the name of the candidate, agent of the candidate or political party receiving the contribution, and the date of the contribution.”
Where did Lubiano get the 30 million pesos he donated to Ecudero? Taking the money from corporate coffers would mean an indirect contribution from Centerways./PN
