THREE of the 15 top flood control project contractors earlier tagged by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. may also be seen in the list of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said three contractors earlier identified by Marcos are also among the 31 firms that may have made illegal campaign contributions during the May 2022 polls.
"Confirm ko lang po na may nakita kami sa listahan namin na nasa 15 na binanggit ng Pangulo," said Garcia in an interview with reporters.
(I just want to confirm that we saw in our list some names included in the 15 mentioned by the President.)
Asked how many, the poll chief said "three" at first glance.
He, however, insisted that they cannot identify the companies as they have yet to complete their probe.
"Nasa unang stage pa lang kami ng investigation. Basta sinasabi muna namin contractor sila," said Garcia.
(We are still in the initial stage of the investigation. For now, we are only saying that they are contractors.)
He also reiterated that more names may be included in their own list of potentially prohibited campaign contributors.
He said this is because they will be including contributors of other national and local candidates, as well as those that have service contracts with the government.
"Hindi po kami naka-focus lang sa contractors ng flood control projects kasi hindi naman po binanggit ng Section 95(c) ng Omnibus Election Code na dapat flood control contractor. Kahit ano pong nature ng kontrata... basta contractors po sila ng pamahalaan," said Garcia.
(We are not only focused on contractors of flood control projects because Section 95(c) of the Omnibus Election Code does not specifically state that they must be flood control contractors. Whatever the nature of the contract may be… as long as they are contractors of the government.)
Under the Omnibus Election Code, "no contribution for purposes of partisan political activity shall be made directly or indirectly by a 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."
Violation of the said provision is tantamount to committing an election offense.
An election offense carries the penalty of one to six years imprisonment, disqualification to hold public office, and deprivation of the right of suffrage. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)