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COMELEC Solves Philosophy: Man and His 99.33%-Owned Corporation Are Total Strangers

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Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

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COMELEC Solves Philosophy: Man and His 99.33%-Owned Corporation Are Total Strangers
Lubiano to Escudero: “Here’s P30M, bro—totally personal, not my company, swear on the corporate veil

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — November 28, 2025

How the Poll Body Just Legalized the Oldest Game in Philippine Politics

In a ruling that will be taught in law schools under the chapter “How to Pretend You’re Blind,” the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD) has solemnly declared that Lawrence Lubiano — the man who owns 99.33% of Centerways Construction and Development Inc. — is a completely separate life form from the company that mysteriously bagged P5.16 billion in flood-control contracts right after he handed Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero a cool P30 million campaign donation.

“Lubiano is not Centerways, and Centerways is not Mr. Lubiano,” the decision proudly proclaims, as if the commissioners just split the atom instead of splitting hairs. Read the full story here.

Separate Juridical Personality™ – Now Stronger Than Gravity, Ethics, and Basic Arithmetic

The Corporate Veil: Now Available in Bulletproof Kevlar

The PFAD leaned heavily on the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 11232)’s declaration that a corporation is an “artificial being” — a legal fiction so sacred that even when one human being owns virtually the entire company, sits as its president, and watches it rake in billions the moment he writes a personal check, we must all pretend the two are perfect strangers at a family reunion.

Never mind the Supreme Court’s long-standing doctrine that the corporate veil can and should be pierced when it is used to perpetrate fraud, defeat public convenience, or justify wrong (see Republic v. Mega Pacific eSolutions, Inc., G.R. No. 184666, 2016). Apparently, a 17,100% return on a P30 million “personal” investment doesn’t rise to the level of “wrong.” Who knew?

“No Evidence” = “We Didn’t Look”

The PFAD’s favorite refrain: “There is no evidence that the funds originated from Centerways.”
Translation: We never subpoenaed bank records. We never traced the money. We never demanded a forensic audit of the P35 million that conveniently vanished from Centerways’ books during the exact same period. Why bother when you can just close the case and go home early?

Contrast this with how the Ombudsman Act (Republic Act No. 6770) empowers the Office of the Ombudsman to dig deep into graft cases — unless, of course, it’s too politically inconvenient. Or imagine if this were a case of a falsified notarized affidavit, where the courts actually bother to investigate signatures and seals under the Supreme Court Rules on Notarial Practice (2004). But here? Crickets.

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2025 Legalized Bribery Awards

The New Official Playbook for Buying Politicians (Now COMELEC-Approved™)

  1. Win billions in public works contracts.
  2. Write eight-figure check from your personal account.
  3. When asked, solemnly declare: “I am not my company.”
  4. Profit. Literally.

Works for flood control contractors. Works for the President’s donors. Works for the Vice President’s P19.9 million “friend.” Works for everyone except the Filipino taxpayer drowning under shoddily built dikes.

What a Real Investigation Would Have Looked Like (For the Three People at COMELEC Who Still Remember Their Mandate)

  • Subpoena Lubiano’s personal and corporate bank statements.
  • Trace the exact timing of the P30 million movement against the P35 million “accounting irregularity.”
  • Apply the piercing-the-veil doctrine instead of treating it like optional homework.
  • Remember that the entire purpose of Section 95(c) of the Omnibus Election Code (Batas Pambansa Blg. 881) is to stop exactly this kind of transaction.

But why do any of that when you can just issue a 2025-word decision that boils down to “Move along, nothing to see here”?

Final Score

  • Campaign finance law: mortally wounded
  • Public trust in COMELEC: on life support
  • Contractors and politicians: laughing all the way to the bank (in their personal capacity, of course)

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas — the only country where “separate juridical personality” is the new “plausible deniability,” and where the best democracy is still the one money can buy.

— Barok

Key Citations

Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

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