TWO NEOPHYTE HOUSE members have found themselves in an awkward situation, facing ethics complaints for making too much noise. But at the higher chamber, a sitting senator got himself in trouble for saying nothing.
According to Marvin Aceron, the lawyer who previously filed an ethics complaint against former Senate President Francis Escudero, Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito is not fit to head the Committee on Ethics and Privilege.
Beyond nasty remarks, Aceron went as far as filing another ethics complaint against the Senate ethics committee chair himself.
CAUGHT SLEEPING
In his ethics complaint, Aceron cited Ejercito’s gross neglect of constitutional duty for supposedly sitting on the complaint againstEscudero in connection with the P30-million campaign donation he received in 2022 from a contractor.
Previously, Ejercito in his capacity as chairman of the Senate ethics committee, admitted receiving Aceron’s complaint against Escudero over the P30-million campaign donation he received in 2022 from contractor Lawrence Lubiano.
In the complaint, Aceron cited the period in which Ejercito didn’t act on his complaint.
“Despite the passage of 109 days since the filing of the ethics complaint against Sen. Escudero, respondent has failed to assign a case number, failed to provide any notice or communication, failed to take any action whatsoever,” Aceron stated.
“This failure is not mere negligence or administrative delay. After 109 days of complete inaction, it constitutes willful Gross Neglect of Constitutional Duty—a deliberate refusal to perform a mandatory duty,” he added.
EJERCITO’S ALIBI
Interestingly, Ejercito claimed that there is no way for the committee to hold hearings because it has yet to be constituted. Its members, he added, have yet to be formally manifested and completed.
“On being named in the complaint, we recognize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and has the right to raise concerns or seek appropriate remedies under the law. That is how democracy works. But I would also like to stress that we are a government of laws, and we will proceed in accordance with Senate rules and due process.” Ejercito said in a statement.
He however assured Aceron that the ethics committee will convene and commence hearing pending cases once it is fully constituted, and that cases will be heard in order of filing.
CHIZ-LUBIANO LINK
In October last year, Aceron filed an ethics complaint against Escudero over the P30-million campaign donation he received in 2022 from contractor Lawrence Lubiano.
Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., previously told a congressional inquiry that the donation came from his personal funds and not from the company.
He said Escudero also disclosed his donation and his name as a campaign donor in the senator’s statement of contributions and expenditures.
Escudero had filed a manifestation explaining his side, saying that the donation was “legal, fully declared, and follows long-standing practice.”
In November 2025, the Commission on Elections’ Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD) cleared Escudero and Lubiano of the case, after finding that Lubiano and Centerways are distinct legal entities.
ELECTION CODE
Under Section 95 of the Omnibus Election Code, “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 works” are prohibited from making political donations.