Contractors appear before Senate, deny ‘ghost’ projects
The Senate on Monday continued its inquiry into possible irregularities in flood control projects as it summoned their top contractors—all of whom, except for one, appeared before the blue ribbon committee.
Among those present was Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, who had become a figure of controversy, following viral video features (since taken down) which presented the lavish wealth she and her husband Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II had accumulated in the course of their lucrative construction ventures.
Discaya, who appeared by herself, was among the 23 invited by the blue ribbon panel as it held its second hearing since Aug. 19.
Edgar Acosta, president of Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp., was the only absent resource person among the invited contractors. He did not attend the first hearing.
The Discayas stand out among the 15 contractors named by President Marcos for the scale and breadth of the projects they had cornered in a span of only three years—404 flood control projects worth P30 billion.
In contrast, the other contractors named by Mr. Marcos had collectively bagged 1,207 out of the nearly 10,000 projects undertaken by his administration.
Related companies
It was Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Sarah Discaya’s rival in the midterm elections, who first identified these companies—including Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor and Development Corp. and St. Timothy Construction Corp.
A review of the articles of incorporation and general information sheets (GIS) of these nine companies—either requested by the Inquirer from the Securities and Exchange Commission or made public over the weekend by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)—shows the interlocking relationships of these companies.
Five of these were directly incorporated by the Discaya couple: Alpha & Omega (May 9, 2014); St. Timothy (July 4, 2014); St. Gerrard Construction (Nov. 12, 2015); St. Matthew Gen. Contractor and Development Corp. (Nov. 9, 2015); and Great Pacific Builders and Gen. Contractor Inc. (June 19, 2018).
Sarah Discaya still sits as president for Alpha & Omega while Curlee Discaya still heads St. Gerrard based on its latest available GIS. Save for Alpha & Omega and St. Timothy, all share the same address at the four-story SGC Building on F. Manalo Street, Bambang, Pasig.
Amethyst Horizon Builders (June 5, 2020), Elite General (June 10, 2020), and YRP General Contractor and Construction Supply (no date of incorporation) are headed by the Pesigans who are related to the Discayas. Amethyst and Elite General—both five-year-old companies with a paid-up capital each of P181 million—have already secured over P2 billion in government contracts.
The last of the nine business entities is the one-person corporation Way Maker OPC (April 21, 2021), established by Gerrard, one of the Discaya couple’s four children. Way Maker had a paid-up capital of P12.5 million but has managed to get P219 million in contracts.
St. Gerrard was suspended for a year in 2015 by then Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson due to its “spurious” tax clearance certificate. This was lifted the next year after Curlee Discaya appealed the suspension.
But in 2020, the company was blacklisted for a year by Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, following the delay in the construction of a four-story building at Lumampong National High School in Indang, Cavite.
Long time in construction
Discaya admitted to owning all nine companies but said she had divested herself of some of them.
She denied categorically, when asked by Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, that some of her enterprises turned out to be “ghost projects,” or projects never begun or completed despite their funding.
She also emphasized that “we have been in the construction business for 23 years [even before securing government contracts], so I would presume in the 23 years, pwede naman po siguro kaming kumita (you could give us the benefit of the doubt that our income is legitimate).”
Regarding her videos, Discaya said “they spliced the video that was taken of me and just mentioned the DPWH.”
The head of MG Samidan Construction, another contractor named by Mr. Marcos, also denied being engaged in ghost projects.
Majorie Samidan said her company had been in construction for 34 years and had to be registered twice in 2019 and, earlier, in 2007 when her husband died.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, blue ribbon panel chair, asked Samidan under which license category her company is registered, to which she replied that it is classified before the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board “as General Engineering A.”
Marcoleta said the allowable range of contract under category A is only P300 million, but Samidan denied that her company was able to acquire more than P300 million for a single project.
Wawao Builders general manager Mark Allan Arevalo earned the ire of Senators Estrada and Joel Villanueva when asked if his company had ghost projects, to which he replied after his initial silence that he was invoking his “right against self-incrimination.”
Later in the hearing, Arevalo said Wawao—which has 85 projects in Bulacan worth P5 billion—is still verifying the status of those projects.
COA probe
Also on Monday the blue ribbon committee, upon Villanueva’s motion, subpoenaed the findings so far of the “fraud audit” conducted by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the projects in Bulacan province.
The COA is also looking into projects under the government’s multibillion-peso Flood Risk Management and Resiliency Program (FRMRP).
But the program had already been included in the COA’s Performance Audit Portfolio as early as Dec. 16 last year, in accordance with Resolution No. 2024-018 issued by the agency.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson raised the issue of flood control projects in July and the President also brought up that matter during his State of the Nation Address on July 28.
The COA said its audit would determine if the FRMRP has achieved its objective of “preventing and/or mitigating the effects [of] flooding.”
