Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia confirmed on Tuesday, Oct. 7, that they are also looking into 2022 presidential and vice presidential candidates over the campaign donations made to them by contractors.

In a television interview on ANC, Garcia said that they are part of Comelec's investigation of 55 contractors who donated to political candidates during the May 2022 elections.

According to Garcia, they are still in the process of obtaining confirmation from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to determine if they have government contracts.

"Pinapaconfirm namin talaga ba may kontrata yan before the filing of the candidacy, during the filing or immediately after the filing kahit na nanalo na yung kandidato (We’re trying to confirm whether there was really a contract before the filing of candidacy, during the filing, or immediately after the filing — even after the candidate had already won)," he said.

"We would like to confirm kasi kinakailangan mapatunayan muna namin na public works contractor yan. Kasi kung private contractor naman pala, walang na tayong pag-uusapan (We would like to confirm this because we first need to prove that they are a public works contractor. If it turns out they’re a private contractor, then there’s nothing more to talk about)," he added.

Under Section 95(c) of the Omnibus Election Code, no contribution for purposes of partisan political activity shall be made directly or indirectly by natural and juridical persons who hold contracts or sub-contracts to supply the government or any of its divisions, subdivisions, or instrumentalities, with goods or services or to perform construction or other work.

President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, both candidates in the 2022 elections, were mentioned in a PCIJ report to have received millions of pesos in campaign donations from contractors. In the report, Marcos was said to have received P20 million from Rudhil Construction & Enterprises Inc., and P1 million from Quirante Construction Corporation.

Duterte, on the other hand, according to the report, received donations from Genesis88 Construction Inc. while Esdevco Realty Corporation paid for advertisements worth P19.9 million.

Garcia said that they have to confirm these with the DPWH, since the poll body has problems with them, particularly with some of the names of the contractors mentioned in the PCIJ report, which are different from the names that are with Comelec.

He also pointed out the involvement of a realty corporation, which he said is entirely different from a construction corporation.

"Pag po na-confirm namin (Once we confirm this), we're going to make public all the names of these public works contractors," Garcia said.

Later on, the Comelec chief said that they would have to resolve whether there's a distinction between donating in a personal or private capacity and a donation made by a person who owns a construction corporation.