Ethics complaints against senators have stacked up, signaling intensifying public scrutiny of elected officials amid massive corruption hounding the current administration.

The latest to be hit with one is no less than the Senate ethics committee chairperson, Senator JV Ejercito, who a private lawyer accused of “grossly neglecting” a similar case filed against his colleague, Senator Chiz Escudero, which was pending in his office since October last year.

“Even if we want it to, the ethics committee has not been constituted yet because of the timing. That’s why it’s really delayed [because] no one wants to take this committee,” he said in Filipino.

Ejercito also attributed the delay to the marathon deliberations, including the bicameral conference committee, for the passage of the 2026 national budget. He also said that he “dealt with health issues too for much of December.”

Escudero’s ethics complaint concerns P35 million in donations from Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction, for his 2022 senatorial campaign.

The firm is among the top contractors doing business with the government, particularly for public works or infrastructure.

The complaint highlights, among others, the odd coincidence between Escudero’s acceptance of the donation and the growing contracts awarded to Centerways in Sorsogon — Escudero’s bailiwick — from 2021 to 2025.

The Commission on Elections in November already cleared Escudero and his top campaign donor and friend, Lubiano, of an alleged election offense involving a similar issue.

JV takes hit

In the complaint filed on Thursday, lawyer Marvin Aceron prayed for Ejercito’s removal as committee chair, his censure, and mandatory inhibition from future proceedings concerning Escudero’s ethics complaint.

Aceron argued that Ejercito could have immediately acted on the complaint against Escudero, given the significant number of complainants totalling 347, including Constitutional Commissioner Prof. Ed Garcia and National Artist Virgilio Almario.

While Ejercito acknowledged the ethics case against him as part of “democracy,” he pointed out that the same has “no basis,” given that the panel is not yet constituted under the present 20th Congress.

Ejercito told reporters on Friday that one of the key reasons is that none of his colleagues is willing to serve as chair of the committee, and that he was only elected as chair shortly before Congress adjourned in October.

He said discussions regarding the committee’s composition will be among the order of business when the Senate resumes session on Monday, following a month-long break.

Aside from Ejercito and Escudero, there is also a pending ethics complaint against Senator Risa Hontiveros filed by supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Lawyers Ferdinand Topacio, Manuelito Luna, and Jacinto Paras filed an ethics case against Hontiveros in late October.

They accused Hontiveros, among others, of “witness tampering,” involving a Senate witness, Michael Maurillo, who recanted his statements against the alleged “abuses” in the premises of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, founded by televangelist Apollo Quiboloy.

Since the panel has not yet been constituted, all ethics cases against the senators remain pending at the committee level.

Romualdez invitation

Meanwhile, Ejercito backed mounting calls to invite former House Speaker Martin Romualdez to the next Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s high-stakes probe to shed light on his alleged involvement in multi-billion-peso flood-control anomalies.

Ejercito said Romualdez’s participation in the hearing is essential, given the gravity of the allegations against him, particularly involving the alleged corruption scheme in recent budgets and the flood control projects awarded to his peers — all unfolded under his watch as the House chief.

“There is a lot of evidence, like the cases of Zaldy Co, and cong-tractors, also this flood control scam [sic], all of these abuses happened from 2022 onwards, [during] which Speaker Martin Romualdez was the leader of the House,” Ejercito said in a briefing. “I’m hoping that Speaker Romualdez would appear so we can hear his side.”

The senator argued that it would be difficult for Romualdez to feign ignorance of the anomalies, given his position as the House’s top leader.

Marcos, Romualdez deny Co’s allegations

Questions about the property’s ownership were further fueled when two witnesses, who testified under the pseudonyms Joy and Maria, said at Monday’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearing that it was Romualdez who acquired the house, citing contractor Curlee Discaya.

The witnesses alleged that they briefly encountered Discaya on 1 February 2024, who introduced himself only as the property’s “contractor,” while assisting them in vacating the house.

Joy allegedly leased the property in question and Maria’s former boss, Rico Ocampo, before it was sold in April 2023 to the current owner.

The witnesses claimed that the deed of sale states that Golden Pheasant Holdings Corporation acquired the property, whose “major stockholder” includes Jose Raulito Paras — Romualdez’s alleged fraternity brother and business associate, according to Lacson.

Discaya denied witnesses’ claims, saying he has never been to Forbes Park.

Lacson announced that Paras will also be invited to the next hearing to clarify his alleged involvement in the house, reportedly worth P1 billion.

The Senate resumes session in late January 2026.