Comelec finds 31 contractors linked to 2022 national bets

MANILA, Philippines — The number of contractors found to have possibly donated to the campaigns of candidates for national positions in the 2022 race has grown to 31 as of Aug. 30, according to the Commission on Elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia told the House appropriations committee yesterday that the contractors were listed in the candidates’ statements of contributions and expenditures that were submitted to the poll body.

Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code prohibits contractors or subcontractors providing services or goods to the government from contributing to “partisan political activity” including election campaigns.

The list of contractors, which Garcia promised to submit to the committee, is undergoing verification.

He explained that the Comelec is prioritizing the contributions in the 2022 polls before those made in this year’s midterm elections because election offenses have a five-year prescriptive period.

President Marcos identified 15 contractors that have cornered the bulk of flood control contracts since 2022. Garcia, however, said the Comelec uncovered more companies that might have given illegal campaign donations.

He earlier said the Comelec is looking at three or four senators who received campaign donations from contractors.

Education should be top budget priority in 2026

At the Senate yesterday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that in next year’s budget, the education sector should take priority as mandated by law.

Lacson warned the budget department not to be an “accessory” to violation of the Constitution.

Lacson voiced his appeal at the Budget Coordination Committee briefing at the Senate, where he urged the executive branch to safeguard the education sector’s funding and warned against a repeat of last year’s “congressional miracle” that allowed the Department of Public Works and Highways to overtake education in funding priority.

Lacson reminded Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman that the Constitution mandates the “highest budgetary priority” for education.

“You need to remind legislators not to realign too much because we may be violating the Constitution. When you potentially violate the Constitution, that’s a major, major, major issue,” Lacson said in Filipino.

For 2025, the DPWH received a budget of P1.007 trillion – larger than the P977.6 billion for the education sector, which constitutionally includes the Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

To address the discrepancy, the DBM added institutions outside the President’s budget message – such as the Philippine National Police Academy, Philippine Military Academy and Philippine Science High School System – into the education tally.

“Why did we allow the DPWH to get a bigger budget than the education sector? I hate to say this but the DBM became an accessory after the fact, to justify the congressional miracle where the education sector’s budget was slashed,” Lacson remarked.

Pangandaman maintained that the Constitution does not categorically define the education sector.

Lacson countered that the President’s own 2026 budget message was clear: the sector covers only DepEd, SUCs, CHED and TESDA.

He urged the DBM to “be consistent next time” by closely monitoring deliberations, particularly at the bicameral conference committee where large-scale realignments often occur.

Lacson further proposed that Malacañang exercise its veto power if Congress once again realigns funds to favor DPWH or other agencies at the expense of education.

“My suggestion is that if Congress again mangles the budget, the President should veto the amount exceeding the budget of the education sector so that the budget of the DPWH or any other agency will not be bigger than that of the education sector, since the Executive department cannot realign funds,” he said.

Also at the DBCC briefing, a finance official said the government aims to significantly cut the country’s fiscal deficit to 3.1 percent by 2030.

“With higher government revenue collections and improved expenditure management, our fiscal deficit is projected to drop from the pandemic high of 8.6 percent in 2021 to 5.5 percent in 2025 and down to about four percent by 2028,” Finance Undersecretary Karlo Adriano said at the Budget Coordination Committee briefing on the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026.

“It will further drop to around three percent by 2030. And crucial to this is ensuring that we prevent wasteful expenditures,” Adriano added.

The government’s fiscal performance is projected to show disbursements settling at 19.9 percent of gross domestic product, while revenues are expected to reach 16.8 percent.

The fiscal deficit as percentage of the GDP is expected to narrow to 4.8 percent in 2027 and 4.3 percent in 2028. By 2029, the Finance department projects the fiscal deficit to narrow to 3.7 percent.

At an earlier briefing at the House of Representatives, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the government is projected to generate P7.13 trillion in revenues by 2030, highlighting strong fiscal prospects ahead.

According to Recto, the projections take into account the impact of newly enacted reforms, including the value-added tax on digital services and the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act.

Finance Undersecretary Charlito Mendoza said the proposed General Tax Amnesty bill would cover all internal revenue taxes that “could be from” 2007 until 2024.

Sen. Bam Aquino, for his part, warned that he is inclined to delete the entire P270-billion allocation for flood control projects in the proposed 2026 national budget if problems on corruption and on misappropriation of funds for flood control remain unaddressed.

“If that is not corrected, my inclination is to just delete the whole (flood control) budget,” Aquino said at the DBCC briefing. — Marco Luis Beech