Discayas unfit as state witnesses–Clavano
Contractor-couple Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya have no chance of qualifying as state witnesses and may have to face the full force of the law over their alleged role in anomalous flood control projects, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said on Monday.
Clavano said the Office of the Ombudsman doesn’t see any chance for the couple to become state witnesses—and on the contrary, they may even turn out to be hostile witnesses—given their “uncooperative behavior” and links to dozens of questionable projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“There’s absolutely no chance that they can even become state witnesses anymore. Because of their statement that they are uncooperative, then they are deemed to be hostile witnesses and can only be charged as respondents in the future, accused in the case of malversation of public funds, of falsification of public documents, and all the other crimes that they were a part of,” said the Ombudsman spokesperson.
“We know that they joined over 4,000 bids around the country, and in whatever scheme or scam that we saw within the DPWH, they are part of it […] All of the shenanigans in the DPWH, the Discayas tried to join them,’’ he added.
Out of ICI probe
The Discayas had earlier opted out of the IIndependent Commission for Infrastructure’s (ICI) investigation of the anomalous projects after a member, former Public Works Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson, expressed an opinion that the couple were “principal players” and had benefited from the corruption in the flood control projects.
The Discayas expected to get a “favorable recommendation from the commission as state witnesses” if they cooperated, ICI spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka had said.
The couple had earlier sought government protection, citing threats to their safety after they named several lawmakers allegedly involved in the kickback scheme.
Clavano said the Discayas have no choice but to face the full force of the government.
“So that is their choice, if they want to be uncooperative, then the government has no choice but to run after them with every ounce of effort that we can muster,” he said. “The wheels of justice will turn on the Discayas if they refuse to cooperate. Let’s see if they would still insist on not cooperating once they are jailed. We’ll see.”
Incomplete affidavits
The Ombudsman can still use the Discayas’ testimonies, but Clavano observed that most of these were incomplete and would not lead to a strong case.
“I don’t think they ever submitted a sworn affidavit or a sworn statement. We can use what they said before the Senate because these were made under oath. They mentioned several things there and they have an affidavit submitted to the Senate,” he said.
“But the problem there is that when you read that affidavit, it is severely lacking, the actions were not specific, you cannot cull or you cannot satisfy the elements of a crime using the affidavit that they submitted. And in my opinion, that is a deliberate act because they do not want to be stuck with a single statement. What they did was to mention names but they did not provide supporting evidence,” he added.
