SC junks poll donation complaint vs Escudero

Supreme Court building /INQUIRER PHOTO

The Supreme Court has junked the petition seeking to scrap a ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that cleared Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero of election code violations when he received a P30-million campaign donation from a contractor. 

In a notice issued by Clerk of Court Marife Cuevas, the high tribunal’s en banc said the petition for review was dismissed for “being the wrong remedy.”

The Supreme Court has yet to release a copy of the resolution, which was promulgated on June 3, but petitioner Barry Tayam already received the notice of the ruling.

Tayam, in a message to Inquirer, noted that it was dismissed due to technicalities and not the merits of the case.

“I think I have two options, whether to file an MR (motion for reconsideration) or refile it via certiorari,” he added, noting that a related case filed by lawyer Jesus Falcis is also pending with the high court.

A senior high school teacher, Tayam, filed as a concerned citizen a petition for review of the Comelec resolution that terminated the probe into Escudero’s election campaign donation for lack of evidence.

The petition was filed a month after the Comelec handed down its ruling in November.

No evidence

The issue came after a contractor supposedly admitted at a House inquiry that he donated some P30 million to the campaign of Escudero for his senatorial bid in the 2022 polls. Escudero and Lubiano earlier denied that they violated election rules.

The poll body noted that the investigation, which was done motu proprio, or on its own, found that there was no evidence to support the claim that contractor Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., violated Section 95(c) of the Omnibus Election Code.

Under this provision of the law, individuals who bagged contracts or subcontracts with the government are barred from contributing to the election campaign of a candidate.