MANILA – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is stepping into the spotlight of a simmering political scandal, launching a deep dive into the P30 million campaign donation from a top government contractor to Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s 2022 senatorial run – a windfall that’s cleared one regulatory hurdle but now faces a tax audit that could unearth fiscal foul play. BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza confirmed the probe Thursday, zeroing in on donor Lawrence Lubiano’s tax filings to ensure the hefty gift aligns with his declared assets, all while the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has given Escudero a clean bill on election law breaches.
The saga traces back to a bombshell admission last month during House hearings on botched flood control projects, where Lubiano – president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., one of the 15 firms handling the lion’s share of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s infrastructure flood defenses – casually revealed he’d funneled P30 million to Escudero’s war chest. Escudero, now Sorsogon governor-elect and a frontrunner for Senate president, owned up to the cash infusion without batting an eye. But the revelation raised eyebrows: Under Section 95 of the Election Code, contractors with government deals are barred from bankrolling campaigns, sparking a Comelec show-cause order to both men.
Enter the corporate veil defense. In a nine-page resolution dated November 26, Comelec’s political finance and affairs department (PFAD) recommended closing the case, ruling that Lubiano’s role as Centerways head doesn’t taint his personal donation. Citing the Revised Corporation Code, the panel stressed a company’s “separate legal personality” from its officers, which can only be pierced for fraud or evasion – not mere managerial overlap. “Mere ownership of shares, managerial control, or interlocking directorships, without more, does not warrant disregarding the distinct legal personality,” the resolution read, effectively letting Lubiano off the hook as an individual donor exercising his “personal right.”
But BIR isn’t buying the full pass just yet. Mendoza, laying out the taxman’s lens, explained the scrutiny: “He is saying that he gave a donation of P30 million. This means he has an asset of P30 million that he gave. So we will cross-reference this with the tax returns that he filed to see if the taxes that he paid are commensurate with that asset.” It’s a classic compliance check – did Lubiano report enough income to justify parting with such a sum without dodging duties? The probe could ripple into broader questions about how contractors like Centerways, swimming in public contracts, manage their personal finances amid the flood fiasco that’s already cost billions and drawn Marcos’ ire.
For Escudero, the timing stings: Fresh off his landslide gubernatorial win, he’s navigating a post-election glow dimmed by these shadows, even as allies rally to his defense. Comelec’s nod is a win, but BIR’s binoculars could zoom in on Lubiano’s ledgers, potentially exposing cracks in the contractor’s books or, worse, tainting the senator’s clean-slate image. As the holidays loom, this donation dust-up serves as a stark reminder: In Philippine politics, campaign cash might clear the polls, but it rarely escapes the taxman’s tally.