How Senate President Chiz Escudero and his favorite contractor turned typhoon season into profit season
By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — August 13, 2025
“How Charming That Typhoon Protection Comes at a 17,200% Return on Political Investment”
WHO needs the stock market when you’ve got Philippine politics? Donate ₱30 million to a senator’s campaign, and boom—₱5.16 billion in government contracts flow right to your doorstep. That’s right, a 17,200% return, proving that corruption here is not just an epidemic but an investment strategy with sky-high dividends (and floodwaters).
This is the story revealed in Rappler’s explosive investigation of Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction, and Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero. It’s a tale that reads like a corruption playbook, dressed up in the language of flood protection and disaster preparedness.
More than half of Centerways Construction’s flood control projects have been in Senator Chiz Escudero’s home province of Sorsogon and within his district. The geographic concentration is so brazen it borders on parody: 96% of Centerways’ projects landed in Bicol region, with 36 of 54 projects specifically in Sorsogon’s first district—Escudero’s former congressional seat and family political stronghold since 1987.
The timing is equally suspicious. Centerways managed just five contracts in 2021, but exploded to 44 contracts in 2022—the same year Escudero returned to the Senate and assumed the presidency of that chamber. Coincidence? About as likely as finding an honest politician at a budget hearing.
What makes this particularly galling is the backdrop: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivering his State of the Nation Address, warning against “kickbacks, initiatives, errata, SOP, for the boys” in flood control projects, while Escudero sits smirking directly behind him. These 15 contractors cornered ₱100 billion — or 20% — of all flood control projects nationwide, President Marcos reveals, with Centerways ranking seventh on this hall of shame.
“This Isn’t Just Corruption—It’s Premeditated Manslaughter of the Poor”
Plunder (Republic Act 7080): “At ₱5.16B, Escudero’s Take Could Buy 1,032 Barangay Health Stations”
The mathematics are simple: If kickbacks from the ₱5.16 billion in contracts exceeded ₱50 million, this becomes a plunder case under Philippine law. Given that flood control corruption typically involves 20-50% kickbacks, the threshold is likely met several times over.
To put this in perspective: ₱5.16 billion could fund 103,200 classrooms at ₱500,000 each, or provide free college education for 50,000 students for four years. Instead, Bicolano children continue to wade through floodwaters to reach schools built with substandard flood protection.
Graft (Republic Act 3019): “When Does ‘Coincidence’ Become Criminal?”
The evidence for graft is circumstantial but compelling. Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft Law criminalizes acts causing “undue injury to the government” or giving “unwarranted benefits” to private parties. The concentration of contracts in Escudero’s political backyard, coupled with the donor relationship, creates a powerful presumption of corruption.
The Supreme Court’s “bad faith” standard asks: When does coincidence become criminal? When your biggest campaign donor’s company sees a 900% surge in government contracts immediately after your election, concentrated in your family’s political fiefdom.
Election Law Violations: “COMELEC’s Impotence With Corporate Donation Loopholes”
Campaign finance laws exist to prevent exactly this scenario—candidates becoming beholden to contractors who profit from government funds. The ₱30 million donation, representing 20% of Escudero’s campaign war chest, creates obvious conflicts that may violate election regulations.
But COMELEC’s enforcement has been notoriously weak. Corporate donation loopholes allow business interests to effectively purchase political influence while maintaining a veneer of legality.
“When Floodwalls Collapse, Follow the Money Trail to Manila”
Behind the staggering numbers lies human tragedy. Consider the Sorsogon family whose floodwall collapsed during Typhoon Kristine, leaving their home underwater and their livelihood destroyed. When investigators trace that collapsed wall back to a Centerways project, the crime becomes clear: this isn’t just financial corruption—it’s premeditated manslaughter of the poor.
Every peso stolen from flood control is a peso not spent on genuine protection for the most vulnerable. At current mortality rates from flooding disasters, we can calculate a grim equation: ₱5.16 billion in misappropriated funds translates to 1,032 barangay health stations that weren’t built, or roughly 46 additional deaths that could have been prevented.
The poor bear the heaviest burden because they live in the most flood-prone areas, have the least resources to recover from disasters, and depend entirely on government infrastructure for protection. When that infrastructure is compromised by corruption, they pay with their lives.
“The Escudero Dynasty’s 38-Year Stranglehold: Where Whistleblowers Go to Die”
This scandal isn’t happening in a vacuum. The Escudero family has controlled Sorsogon politics for 38 years, creating a system where dissent is crushed and transparency is nonexistent. No whistleblowers emerge because speaking out means economic death in a province where the family controls the political and economic machinery.
This pattern mirrors other corruption hotspots throughout the Philippines. Remember how Rodrigo Duterte’s mining permits worsened environmental disasters in Mindanao? The same dynamic applies here: political dynasties use their power to capture economic rents while externalizing the costs onto the poorest citizens.
The issue is not about how Senate President Chiz Escudero’s alleged fund insertions were allocated to preferred constituencies but the questionable nature of insertions allocated to flood control projects in the 2025 national budget. The problem is systemic: when senators can insert billions into budgets for their pet projects, accountability disappears.
“Marcos Vowed to Drain the Swamp—Will He Start With the Senate President?”
The solution requires action on multiple fronts:
“Why Does a Drone Cost Less Than a Kickback?”
Immediate Accountability: The Commission on Audit must conduct forensic audits of every Centerways contract, examining bid documents, payment records, and project completion. Why does a drone survey cost less than the typical kickback on these projects? Deploy citizen-led monitoring using LiDAR technology to verify that projects actually exist and meet specifications.
International Banking Complicity
Financial Transparency: International banks funding DPWH projects through development loans must implement strict oversight mechanisms. No more turning a blind eye to obvious corruption because it’s politically convenient.
Breaking the Dynasty Machine
Systemic Reform: Break up the political dynasties that make this corruption possible. Implement real-time campaign finance reporting, mandatory asset declarations, and strict conflict-of-interest rules for all public officials.
Citizen Power
Citizen Engagement: Filipinos must demand better. Every flooded street, every collapsed seawall, every dead child should be laid at the feet of the politicians who stole the money meant to protect them.
“Does Escudero Think Filipinos Enjoy Swimming to Work?”
President Marcos vowed to “drain the swamp” of corruption. The question now is whether he has the political will to start with the man who sits behind him during cabinet meetings—the Senate President himself.
Does Escudero really think Filipinos enjoy swimming to work? Does he believe that children should risk their lives wading to school through floodwaters while his campaign donor builds luxury cars with the profits from substandard flood walls?
For the price of one “golden” flood control contract, 50,000 students could attend university debt-free. Instead, we get Lawrence Lubiano—not a contractor, but a luxury car dealership masquerading as a public servant.
The choice is clear: either we hold these politicians accountable for their crimes against the Filipino people, or we accept that in the Philippines, flood protection is just another commodity to be bought and sold by the highest bidder.
The storms will keep coming. The only question is whether we’ll finally have leaders who protect the people instead of enriching themselves while the poor drown.
Key Citations
- Rappler Investigation: “Chiz Escudero’s top campaign donor Lawrence Lubiano bags billions in flood control projects” (August 11, 2025)
- Philippine Laws:
- Government Agencies:
- Related Coverage:
- “Forthwith” to Farce: How the Senate is Killing Impeachment—And Why Enrile’s Right (Even If You Can’t Trust Him)
- “HINDI AKO NAG-RESIGN!”
- “I’m calling you from my new Globe SIM. Send load!”
- “Mahiya Naman Kayo!” Marcos’ Anti-Corruption Vow Faces a Flood of Doubt
- “Meow, I’m calling you from my new Globe SIM!”
- “PLUNDER IS OVERRATED”? TRY AGAIN — IT’S A CALCULATED KILL SHOT
- “Shimenet”: The Term That Broke the Internet and the Budget
- “We Did Not Yield”: Marcos’s Stand and the Soul of Filipino Sovereignty
- “We Gather Light to Scatter”: A Tribute to Edgardo Bautista Espiritu
- $150M for Kaufman to Spin a Sinking Narrative
- $2 Trillion by 2050? Manila’s Economic Fantasy Flimsier Than a Taho Cup
- $26 Short of Glory: The Philippines’ Economic Hunger Games Flop
KWEBA ni BAROK 
Leave a comment