Dirty money black hole

Like a real anti-dynasty law, we badly need a law that genuinely regulates campaign finance.

We saw the need in the case of Sen. Francis Escudero’s campaign contributions, and we’re seeing it again in the case of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.

Both have gotten off with not even a slap on the wrist over allegations of election offenses. Marcoleta himself had disclosed that he did not identify donors of P75 million to his 2025 senatorial campaign, upon their request, in the statement of contributions and expenditures that he submitted to the Commission on Elections.

He declared zero contributions in his SOCE, but P112 million in campaign expenditures, which was more than double the P51.96 million net worth that he declared as of June 30 last year in his official statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

The Comelec last Wednesday announced that it had adopted the recommendation of its political finance and affairs department led by Efraim Bag-id to dismiss the case against Marcoleta. All the Comelec commissioners voted to adopt the PFAD recommendation, except Chairman George Garcia who inhibited.

The PFAD accepted Marcoleta’s explanation that the P75 million was given before the start of the campaign period – meaning Marcoleta, at the time still a party-list congressman –  was not yet officially a candidate, even if he himself had said the money was a donation to his Senate bid.

Section 109 of the Omnibus Election Code requires that the amount of any campaign contribution, date of receipt plus full name and exact address of the contributor be stated in the SOCE. Violation calls for imprisonment of up to six years, perpetual disqualification from public office and the loss of the right to vote.

But the PFAD pointed out that this provision has been defanged by Republic Act 7166, which decriminalized violation of Section 109.

RA 7166, however, does not cover the campaign contributors themselves. So the Comelec is going after the three men who paid the donor’s tax for their P75 million contribution meant specifically for Marcoleta’s Senate bid: Joseph Espiritu, Aristotle Viray and former Quezon City Rep. Michael Defensor, incidentally the guy behind MIA ex-Marine Orly Guteza, whose appearance at the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing was under the aegis of Marcoleta.

The three donors face complaints for failure to submit their respective individual report of campaign contributions within the 30-day period after the May 2025 elections.

Only lawyers may see the logic in this situation.

*      *      *

Comelec Commissioner Rey Bulay said that any possible criminal offense on the part of Marcoleta, such as perjury or indirect bribery, would be up to the Office of the Ombudsman to explore.

The Comelec merely carried out its “ministerial” duty based on the letter of election laws and Supreme Court rulings, Bulay told “Storycon” on One News last Wednesday.

Shouldn’t the Comelec en banc have ruled on the issue pro-actively, based instead on the spirit rather than the letter of the law? Well, they didn’t, Bulay said, so there. He denied that any group exerted pressure on the Comelec in the controversial case, as insinuated by Marcoleta’s foe, Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

What the Comelec is hoping for, Bulay said, is for Congress’ passage of legislation proposed by the poll body, which among other things would restore the concept of premature campaigning and put in place campaign finance regulation that’s not a joke.

The campaign finance reforms should provide clarity, he said, in the case for example of the P30-million donation of Lawrence Lubiano to the 2022 Senate campaign of Chiz Escudero who was then Sorsogon governor.

Lubiano is the president and 99.3 percent majority owner of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., which has bagged 85 flood control contracts worth P5.4 billion under the Marcos administration, 55 of which are in Sorsogon, where Lubiano’s brother Ralph Walter is Donsol mayor and another brother Lester is Sorsogon City councilor.

Government contractors are expressly barred from contributing to election campaigns. But the Comelec ruled that Lubiano is separate from his company, and could make a personal donation to his friend Senator Chiz. Both Lubiano and Escudero were cleared of any election offense.

No wonder the Paraiba princess is again happily strutting her stuff in her Paris haunts.

At the height of the flood control probes, Comelec chief Garcia had told Storycon that the law prohibiting government contractors from contributing to election campaigns referred only to “juridical entities” – making no distinction between companies and their majority owners.

This would be his position, Garcia told us, in case the Lubiano case reached the Comelec. If the issue reaches the Supreme Court, he would welcome it, Garcia said, to get judicial clarity on a gray area in the law.

Garcia was Escudero’s election lawyer when the senator filed the SOCE declaring Lubiano’s contribution. It’s anybody’s guess how this detail might have influenced the Comelec ruling that Lubiano is not Centerways.

Escudero is not yet off the hook; a lawyer has filed criminal charges against him before the ombudsman over Lubiano’s donation.

*      *      *

Both Bulay and retired Comelec commissioner Luie Tito Guia are hoping that these controversies will finally compel lawmakers to pass an honest-to-goodness law strictly regulating campaign finance, apart from other electoral reforms.

Election campaigns in this country have become among the most efficient money laundering machines. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) should look into this dirty money black hole and demand reforms. Campaign financing has allowed corruption to become entrenched.

Many multibillion-peso sweetheart government contracts are rewards for campaign support, along with undeserving appointments to government positions. The justice system is a disaster because it is packed with people who won appointments or promotions as payback to their influence-peddling patrons for campaign support.

Politicians themselves should welcome a drastic reduction in the cost of campaigning, including a strict enforcement of a shorter campaign period.

Instead, every Congress post-EDSA has strenuously resisted any proposal to regulate campaign finance. Worse, Congress even amended election laws to scrap the concept of premature campaigning. Before the start of the campaign period, any government contractor can donate billions to someone’s campaign, with no reporting obligations.

The campaign finance controversies should alert the anti-money laundering police – and I’m not referring to the toothless local council.

FATF, how did the Philippines get out of the dirty money gray list? Where we should be is on the black list.