MANILA — Three of the 15 contractors identified by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as having cornered the bulk of the government’s flood control projects made campaign contributions to candidates in the 2022 elections, Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairperson George Garcia has disclosed.

“Mukhang meron tatlo doon sa 15 na nabanggit ng Pangulo… Sa national candidate, at in cash yung naibigay na mga donasyon, kontribusyon sa mga naturang kandidato,” Garcia told reporters in an interview.

He said they are currently reviewing up to 31 contractors that donated to national candidates in the 2022 polls. Of these, three are included in the list of 15 contractors flagged by the President.

“I already saw in the (COMELEC) list some of those mentioned by our president,” Garcia said. “I’ll be very honest. It seemed that I identified three already.”

However, he clarified that the list cannot be made public yet, as the poll body is still in the initial stage of its investigation. He added that the number of contractors involved could still increase.

Garcia also said they will coordinate with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to determine whether the 31 contractors were under government contracts at the time they made donations—either during or after the elections.

“After the list is collated, we will write to the DPWH. We will ask, ‘Who among these have contracts with the government at the time of filing of candidacy or before the filing of candidacy or immediately after the election?’” Garcia added.

He reiterated that contractors involved in government projects are prohibited from contributing funds to candidates, citing Section 95 (c) of the Omnibus Election Code.

Article XI of the Omnibus Election Code states:

“SECTION 95. Prohibited contributions. – No contribution for purposes of partisan political activity shall be made directly or indirectly by any of the following:”

“(c) 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.”

“Puwedeng magbigay ng donasyon kung hindi sila public works contractor, pero kung public works contractor, natural or juridical person, ay pwedeng maging liable. Election offense po ito na may isa hanggang anim na taon na pagkakakulong at maaari rin pong maging dahilan ng pagkakakansela po ng mga lisensya o permit ng mga kumpanya na ito,” Garcia explained.

When asked about possible penalties for candidates who received donations and eventually won, Garcia responded, “Hindi ko po muna sasagutin dahil alam na alam ko maaaring may magkuwestiyon at mag-file ngayon sa Comelec dahil sa mga development na ito.”

On September 2, during the first day of the House of Representatives Infra-Comm’s probe into alleged anomalies in flood control projects, Centerways Construction and Development Inc. President Lawrence Lubiano admitted donating ₱30 million to Sen. Chiz Escudero’s senatorial campaign in the 2022 elections—at a time when his firm held government contracts.

Lubiano was responding to a question from Rep. Chel Diokno (Akbayan Partylist), who asked, “In the last elections, the last two cycles of elections, 2022 and 2025, kayo po ba ay nagbigay ng donasyon sa sinuman kumandidato whether local or national?”

Lubiano replied, “Yes po… Kay Sen. Chiz po.”

He said he was aware that his family’s firm had been bidding for flood control projects since 2009, and that Centerways Construction won roughly 80 projects from 2022 to 2025. He added that most of these projects were located in Sorsogon, widely known as Escudero’s home province, and he could recall around 30 of them.

Centerways Construction is one of the 15 contractors on Marcos’ list. Diokno noted that data from the Sumbong sa Pangulo website shows that around 50 to 53 flood control contracts were awarded to Centerways Construction.

📷 COMELEC