THE decision on the case involving Senator Francis Escudero and his campaign donor, Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., is now in the hands of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc.
In an interview on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the agency’s Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD) has already submitted its recommendation to the Comelec en banc.
"The PFAD already has a recommendation. The en banc members will now be given the opportunity to review the recommendation," he said.
"No later than Wednesday of next week, hopefully, the Comelec will have a disposition on that matter," Garcia added.
While declining to disclose the PFAD recommendation, the poll chief said the Comelec en banc is not obliged to follow its findings.
"We can set that aside since the final say is with the Comelec en banc," Garcia said.
Lubiano had admitted to donating P30 million to Escudero's senatorial campaign in the 2022 elections while his firm held several government contracts. Both Lubiano and Escudero have already responded to separate show cause orders (SCOs) issued by the poll body.
Marcoleta and his Soce
In a related development, Comelec said it will be issuing a SCO against Senator Rodante Marcoleta over his questionable Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (Soce) in the May 2025 polls.
"In order to provide a venue for his explanation and to check the documents, we will issue a show cause order," Garcia said.
"It is appropriate to do this so that we can ask him (Marcoleta) for an explanation since the matter is already public," he added.
The poll chief said the SCO aims to clarify why Marcoleta did not declare any campaign contributions in his Soce.
"Candidates should report to us, especially donations and expenses during the campaign period. It would be better to hear his explanation," Garcia said.
Asked if anonymous donors must be declared in the Soce, Garcia answered in the affirmative.
"As far as the Comelec is concerned, there are no exemptions. All donations received during the campaign period must be declared," he said.
In his Soce, Marcoleta reported P0 contributions received while spending P112,857,951.44 during the May 2025 polls. Questions have been raised on how Marcoleta was able to spend P112.85 million when his SALN showed a net worth of P51.9 million.
Marcoleta explained that his friends donated funds for his 2025 campaign but that he intentionally did not declare the donations to honor their request to remain anonymous. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)