ASEANEWS HEADLINE-GRAFT & CORRUPTION | MANILA: Chiz denies helping contractor bag project
Senate President Chiz Escudero answers questions from the media during a press briefing at the Senate in Pasay City on August 12, 2025/ STAR / File
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Escudero denies helping contractor, admits P30M campaign donation
Senate President Chiz Escudero confirms that Centerways Construction donated P30 million to his 2022 election campaign, but he says he did not help the firm secure big-ticket flood-control projects with the government.
‘Demolition job meant to unseat me’
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Francis Escudero slammed the “demolition job” against him, as he denied any wrongdoing in accepting campaign funds from a longtime flood control project contractor in his turf Sorsogon during the 2022 senatorial race.
Escudero called a press conference yesterday to criticize a Rappler report, which cited his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures showing that Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc. – one of the 15 contractors which cornered 20 percent of the P545-billion flood control budget – donated P30 million to his 2022 campaign kitty.
“I acknowledge that the contractor is my friend, from my hometown in Sorsogon, a contractor. But the contract bagged was only P5 billion, allegedly. Not even one percent of the flood control funds the President mentioned,” Escudero said. “My question is, why emphasize on that? The one percent, instead of the 99 percent?”He lamented the “malicious” timing in releasing the report, as President Marcos bared the initial findings of the government audit on flood control.
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WATCH VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q34-9odHhCs
Chiz Escudero, pumalag pero aminadong campaign donor ang isang malaking kontratista
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Escudero said the smear campaign was launched to unseat him as Senate President and clear the way for the refiling of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment complaint on Feb. 6, 2026, during which the one-year-bar rule imposed by the Supreme Court will lapse.
He accused the House of Representatives of being
behind the smear campaign against him for his perceived role in the archived impeachment complaint.
Escudero admitted that the Sorsogon-based construction firm was a top donor in his campaign, but he pointed out the unfairness in highlighting one firm’s role even though it did not have a lion’s share of the flood control budget.
The contractors with projects in almost all regions are Legacy Construction Corp., Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp., St. Timothy Construction Corp., EGB Construction Corp., and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
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Escudero denied helping Centerways to bag the contracts in Sorsogon when he was governor from 2019 to 2022 and as returning senator since 2022.
According to the Rappler article, Centerways reportedly bagged P5.16 billion worth of flood control projects from 2021 to 2024, most of which are located in the Bicol region, including Sorsogon.
But according to a matrix prepared by Escudero’s office, Centerways bagged P5.4 billion worth of flood control projects from 2020 to 2024 – only less than a percent of the total P545.59-billion flood control budget under audit.
Escudero questioned why he was at the receiving end of criticisms when he or his family was not involved in any government contract.
“Therefore, it is clear that the article was malicious, the release was timed to link this, although the article did not mention that I did something wrong or bad,” he said.
Escudero denied being involved in the identification of projects, in the making of programs of works and in the bidding and awarding of contracts in Sorsogon while he was at Sorsogon’s helm.
He said the reported conflict of interest in an elected official’s work in relation to their donors’ contribution has always been an “insinuation” in politics.
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“I am not a partner in the business. I am not part of the contractor’s business. Again, that’s the innuendo and the insinuation being floated and propagated. Why don’t we look at the lawmakers and government officials that are actual contractors, that are actually owners of the companies that bagged government contracts?” Escudero asked.
He said this was why he filed a bill seeking a ban on public officials and their kin up to the fourth degree of consanguinity from bagging contracts with government as an anti-corruption measure.
He maintained that no senator is involved in any graft-tainted flood control and other infrastructure projects.
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Classroom construction
Meanwhile, senators yesterday pressed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to replace its current pool of contractors for classroom construction with those engaged by local government units (LGUs), citing faster completion times and lower costs.
During the first hearing of the committee on basic education, the first among all committees under the 20th Congress, panel chairman Sen. Bam Aquino urged government agencies involved with school building construction to pursue “the best value” to deal with the 165,000 classroom backlog faster.
The call came after officials from the DPWH and the DepEd revealed during yesterday’s inquiry that average cost of classrooms under their contractors are P2.5 million to P3.8 million compared to the amount local government heads and non-government organizations spent for a shorter period at P1.5 to P2 million.
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“We want to know. Where really is the difference? During the technical working group, we will require the different groups to submit all the way to cost of materials, cost of labor. We will know so we can compare. It could be that your pricing for cement might be double theirs (LGUs’),” Aquino said.
“Hopefully we can move forward and really provide the best value for our students. If we can do this for P1.5 million to P2 million, we would double the number of classrooms we can build. I think this is something we can all get behind,” he added.
During the hearing, Sen. Raffy Tulfo questioned why DPWH projects take up to three years to complete, while LGU-hired contractors can finish buildings in as little as seven months to a year – and at significantly lower prices.
“Perhaps it would be better if you would ask which cheaper contractors the LGUs are using so you could engage them instead and we can save on cost and time,” Tulfo told DPWH officials.
“With you, the projects take longer and are more expensive. With the LGUs, they are cheaper, faster and the classrooms come with toilets. Unlike your projects,” he added.
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DPWH Undersecretary Eric Ayapana told the panel that the department’s cost for a classroom ranges from P2.6 million to P3.8 million, or about P30,000 per square meter. A two-story, 10-classroom building costs between P3.4 million and P3.8 million per classroom, translating to P32,400 to P36,267 per square meter.
Citing the second congressional commission on education, Aquino flagged the 165,000-classroom backlog, noting that only 847 classrooms were completed in 2024 despite budget allocations.
Aquino stressed that clogs brought by inefficiency and corruption in the system need to be cleared to enable the government to surpass President Marcos’ target of 40,000 classrooms before his term ends.
“Why is it that it’s so quick to construct buildings (for condos and casinos) but until now we are lacking classrooms nationwide? Until now, why do we still have bottlenecks in classroom construction?” Aquino asked.
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Blacklist
To put a lid on wasteful spending and penalize incompetence and corruption, Bacolod City Rep. Albee Benitez has called on the government to impose a temporary blacklist on any contractor with a history of unfinished, substandard or grossly delayed flood control projects until they are cleared of wrongdoing.
“Contractors should not be allowed to profit from the misery of our kababayan. Those who fail our people must be shut out from government projects until they prove they can be trusted again,” Benitez said in a statement.
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“The President, in following through on his commitment to publicize the names of the contractors involved in flood control projects, has taken the first real step to hold accountable those who benefit from public funds without delivering results,” he added.
“The next step must be to ensure that every peso in our flood mitigation budget is spent on projects that actually protect lives and property – not fill the pockets of the corrupt,” the lawmaker said.
ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, meanwhile, dared President Marcos to go beyond mere exposure of erring contractors.
“All those who indulged, fattened their pockets and made government projects as racket, particularly those who brought danger and endangered the lives of many Filipino people, they should not only be reported and included in the lists, but they should be held accountable and pay for their shamelessness to the people,” she said.
Sen. JV Ejercito shared the same sentiments, backing calls for public accountability.
“The people responsible must be made to answer. These ghost projects are alarming. It is too much,” he said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
For House Deputy Speaker and Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin, the government should also address the garbage problem, which is a major contributor to flooding.
“It is proper to have flood control project. But we need to ensure that there are no clogging in projects to be constructed. If we will not address the garbage that clogged the waterways, we are simply puring money into projects that will not last,” she said.
Likewise, Davao 3rd district Rep. Isidro Ungab urged an investigation of congressmen-contractors who may have been involved in anomaly-ridden flood control projects.
“If we are innocent, a fair investigation will vindicate us. If any are guilty, justice must be done – unflinchingly, without regard to rank or status,” he said.
Ungab also proposed that in order to “restore and ensure confidence,” the probe for House members “should be conducted by independent bodies such as the ombudsman, the Commission on Audit or impartial panels.”
Additionally, the creation of a credible anti-corruption body – modeled after Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption and Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau – was recommended to insulate such inquiries from political interests. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Gilbert Bayoran, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano
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