Contractor Lubiano skips Comelec hearing; Chiz faces show cause order
MANILA, Philippines — Government contractor Lawrence Lubiano failed to attend a Commission on Elections (Comelec) hearing Monday, September 16 on his questionable campaign donation to Sen. Chiz Escudero.
Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., admitted donating to Escudero’s 2022 senatorial campaign.
The Comelec set a hearing for September 15 but said Lubiano did not appear because he never received the summons.
“There was a failure to serve the notice. The guard on duty in [his] condo did not receive it,” Comelec Chair George Garcia told Philstar.com.
Escudero is next. The poll body confirmed it will also issue Escudero a show cause order following Lubiano's proceedings. The senator will be required to explain the donation.
Lubiano earlier told a House infrastructure probe that he gave P30 million to Escudero, later clarifying it was in a personal capacity. Under the Omnibus Election Code, government contractors are barred from donating to campaigns.
Ties under scrutiny. Escudero has said he and Lubiano are merely friends. However, a Philstar.com analysis found that Escudero endorsed members of the Lubiano family in the 2025 local elections.
Centerways Construction has also secured more than P2.85 billion worth of flood-control projects in Sorsogon, Escudero’s home province. The firm is among the country’s top-earning contractors in that sector.
The controversy comes as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration confronts what has become its largest corruption scandal—billions of pesos in suspected kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects.
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