Will anyone be jailed?

Politicians accused of receiving campaign contributions from public works contractors maintain that they have done nothing illegal.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Several of them have issued explanations similar to that of former Senate president Francis Escudero: the donations were made in a private capacity, and the declaration of the contributions in the candidate's statement of contributions and expenditures reflected the belief that the donations were aboveboard.

Perhaps the candidates, who now face probes by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and may be slapped with criminal cases for poll-related offenses, can be forgiven for believing that they did nothing wrong.

After all, as far as Comelec Chairman George Garcia can tell, no one has ever faced a complaint, much less gone to jail, for receiving campaign contributions from “natural and juridical persons” supplying goods or services to the government, or who have been awarded government franchises.

Politicians, among them Escudero, have said owners of contractor firms donated campaign funds in their personal or private capacity, being longtime friends or supporters of the candidates.

But Garcia has pointed out that the law prohibiting such contributions make no distinction between contractor companies and their owners and executives.

This belief of politicians regarding the nature of personal contributions could have been reinforced by the fact that no one has ever been indicted for it as an electoral offense, much less gone to prison for it.

Complaints for electoral violations are usually filed by rival candidates. I asked Garcia, a former election lawyer, why no one has ever filed such a complaint.

Maybe they were all doing it - “baka lahat sila guilty,” he told us, tongue in cheek, on One News’ “Storycon” last Monday. He did not take back or qualify his statement.