Chiz denies helping contractor bag project

'Demolition job meant to unseat me'

- By MARC JAYSON CAYABYAB

Senate President Francis Escudero slammed the “demolition job” against him, as he denied any wrongdoing in accepting campaign funds from a longtime flood control project contractor in his turf Sorsogon during the 2022 senatorial race.

Escudero called a press conference yesterday to criticize a Rappler report, which cited his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures showing that Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc. – one of the 15 contractors which cornered 20 percent of the P545-billion flood control budget – donated P30 million to his 2022 campaign kitty.

“I acknowledge that the contractor is my friend, from my hometown in Sorsogon, a contractor. But the contract bagged was only P5 billion, allegedly. Not even one percent of the flood control funds the President mentioned,” Escudero said. “My question is, why emphasize on that? The one percent, instead of the 99 percent?”

He lamented the “malicious” timing in releasing the report, as President Marcos bared the initial findings of the government audit on flood control.

Escudero said the smear campaign was launched to unseat him as Senate President and clear the way for the refiling of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment complaint on Feb. 6, 2026, during which the one-year-bar rule imposed by the Supreme Court will lapse.

He accused the House of Representatives of being behind the smear campaign against him for his perceived role in the archived impeachment complaint.

Escudero admitted that Lubiano was a top donor in his campaign, but he pointed out the unfairness in highlighting one firm’s role even though it did not have a lion’s share of the flood control budget.