Comelec: 9 contractors so far donated to May 2025 poll bets

Commission on Elections Chair George Erwin Garcia — File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has found out so far that nine contractors donated campaign funds to some candidates in the 2025 midterm elections, according to its chairperson George Erwin Garcia.

Garcia said that the poll body is currently looking into the statements of contributions and expenditures of the 66 senatorial candidates and 155 party-list groups. Meanwhile, he said that the list is not yet final.

“For 2025, we have not confirmed any candidate at that time whether they won or not. But I am confirming that more or less, nine contractors donated to politicians,” Garcia told reporters in an interview.

READ: Comelec looking into 2022 campaign donations for 6 more senators

He added that once the list of contractors becomes final, the poll body will submit it to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to help them determine if the contractors secured contracts with the government.

“The DPWH is doing a lot these days, so they won’t be confused,” he noted.

Garcia reiterated that government contractors are not allowed to donate to the campaign of election candidates.

Section 95(c) of the Omnibus Election Code states that “[n]o 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 subcontracts to supply the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions, or instrumentalities with goods or services, or to perform construction or other works.”

The last part of the Section 95 also states that “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to solicit or receive any contribution from any of the persons or entities enumerated herein.”

What are the penalties they will face? Garcia answered: “One to six years of imprisonment, whether it’s the contractor himself or the politician or candidate who received it.”

The Comelec’s Political Finance and Affairs Department earlier found that 55 contractors pitched in to the campaign of several candidates in the 2022 elections.

However, Garcia said that they are still waiting for the response of the DPWH on their request to identify who among its list secured contracts with the government.

READ: Comelec: Chiz affidavit says he thought P30M was ‘private fund’

In a separate radio interview on Monday, he noted that once the DPWH confirmed that they were government contractors, then they will ask them, along with the candidates who received the donation, to explain.

The Comelec earlier asked Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc. to explain his P30-million donation to the campaign of then senatorial candidate Francis “Chiz” Escudero in the 2022 elections.

A show cause order was also issued to Escudero, in which a part of his affidavit said that he only accepted the donation as he believed the money came from a “private fund.” /das