Comelec may probe bets, campaign donations from gov’t contractors

Commission on Elections. — File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections may investigate election candidates and contractors who donated to their campaigns, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Thursday.

This is what Garcia answered when asked if the Comelec would conduct a motu proprio investigation, or investigation on its own initiative, into campaign donations given by government contractors.

Garcia said that government contractors are not allowed to donate to the campaign of election candidates, as this is an election offense under the Omnibus Election Code.

READ: Comelec to gov’t contractors: Political donations are election offense

“Almost sure, the Political Finance and Affairs Department will do that. We discussed it yesterday… We gave PFAD an instruction because it is included in their review,” Garcia told reporters in an online interview.

He also said that the PFAD is authorized to file election offenses against candidates proven to have received campaign donations from government contractors. He emphasized that all election offenses have a prescriptive period of five years.

“It may have happened in 2022 or 2025, it doesn’t really matter because as long as the prescriptive period does not end yet, we can still act on it because we still have the jurisdiction,” Garcia said.

This came after Senate President Francis Escudero confirmed that Centerways Construction and Development Inc. donated P30 million to his 2022 senatorial campaign.

The firm is one of the 15 contractors identified by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to have bagged the most number of flood control projects.

Marcos revealed that P100 billion out of the entire P545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects of his administration from July 2022 to May 2025 were awarded to only 15 out of 2,409 accredited contractors.

While Escudero admitted the donation, he said that he did not help the company to secure flood control projects with the government. This clarification came after Marcos made the revelation.

READ: Escudero denies helping contractor, admits P30M campaign donation

Scrutinizing Soces

As the statements of contribution and expenditures (Soces) of the 2025 national and local elections candidates are published in the Comelec’s website, Garcia urged the public to scrutinize and review the public documents.

He said that the poll body is currently reviewing the Soces filed by 61 senatorial candidates. He said that their documents are prioritized to provide complete transparency and accountability if they misdeclared information in their Soces or not.

An election candidate is required to submit their Soce within 30 days after a regular election. The Comelec noted that the declaration of expenditures and contributions will begin at the start of the campaign period. /das