BIR’s turn to check P30-M Chiz campaign donation
Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday said the agency is looking into the P30-million donation made by Centerways Construction and Development Inc. president Lawrence Lubiano for the 2022 senatorial bid of Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
At a press conference at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Mendoza said the focus of the investigation is the donor’s tax compliance and declared assets to see if they are aligned.
“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,” Mendoza said in Filipino.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has declared that there was no violation of the Election Code when Escudero received the P30-million campaign donation from Lubiano.
But for the BIR, Mendoza said their primary angle of investigation is to determine if the taxes paid by Lubiano are commensurate with the P30 million he donated.
The case at the Comelec stemmed from Lubiano’s admission during a House hearing on anomalous flood control projects that he donated P30 million to Escudero’s 2022 senatorial run, which the senator himself had confirmed.
Flood works contractor
The donation was questioned because Lubiano heads Centerways, one of the top 15 contractors identified by President Marcos as having cornered most of the flood control works during his term.
The revelation prompted the Comelec to issue a show-cause order on both Lubiano and Escudero.
Section 95 of the election code prohibits campaign contributions from “natural and juridical persons who hold contracts or sub-contracts to supply the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions, or instrumentalities with goods or services or to perform construction or other works.”
In a nine-page resolution released on Nov. 26, the Comelec’s political finance and affairs department (PFAD) recommended the termination of its investigation into Escudero’s case, saying there was no evidence to support a complaint that Section 95 (C) of the Omnibus Election Code was violated.
Distinct personality
The PFAD agreed with Lubiano’s arguments that under the Revised Corporation Code, a corporation is an “artificial being” created by law and is vested with a personality separate and distinct from that of its stockholders, directors, and officers.
“A corporation’s separate legal personality may be pierced only when it is clearly used to accomplish fraud, evade lawful obligations, or perpetrate injustice. Mere ownership of shares, managerial control, or interlocking directorships, without more, does not warrant to disregard the distinct legal personality,” the resolution said.
Although he is president of Centerways, Lubiano retains a separate legal personality of his own, according to PFAD, and when he made a campaign donation to Escudero, he “merely exercised a right that is personal to him.”
