Curlee, 3 DPWH Bulacan execs won’t be home for Christmas
A businessman and three former public works officials detained by the Senate in connection with its inquiry into anomalous flood control projects will not be home for Christmas.
The holiday furlough requested by contractor Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya and district engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza and Henry Alcantara of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have been denied, according to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
“I recommended to the Senate President that their request for Christmas furlough be denied mainly for security reasons, owing to the repeated media statements from Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that arrest warrants against them will be issued before Christmas,” Lacson said in a statement on Tuesday,
The risk of escape only increases once the detained individuals are let go, said the senator, who chairs the blue ribbon committee which has conducted the probe.
“(N)ot to mention that it makes no sense to grant such requests for Christmas leave if indeed warrants are coming out by then,” he added,
The recommendation was approved by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Lacson said.
The most that the panel would allow for the four detainees would be to let them hear Mass in the Senate premises and allow family visits, he added.
Contempt citations
Discaya, Alcantara and Hernandez had been detained since Sept. 18 after being cited for contempt over their alleged refusal to cooperate or give truthful answers in the investigation.
Discaya was cited for allegedly lying under oath before the blue ribbon committee when why his wife, businesswoman Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, failed to attend the hearing. Sarah is now in detention as well, at the National Bureau of Investigation, as one of the accused in a graft case filed over an alleged ”ghost project” in Davao Occidental.
Curlee then told senators his wife had a heart condition, yet Sarah’s letter indicated she was holding an “important meeting” with her staff about the issues being raised against their company.
Alcantara was cited for contempt for claiming he was unaware of the kickback scheme surrounding the flood control mess in Bulacan. As to Hernandez, he repeatedly denied owning a fake driver’s license under the name of “Marvin Santos de Guzman,” which he supposedly used whenever he went to a casino.
Ombudsman’s timeline
In his statement on Tuesday, Lacson said he was hoping the Office of the Ombudsman would make good on its earlier pronouncements setting a timeline for filing cases against the detainees at the Sandiganbayan antigraft court and other venues.
Such actions should be taken soon ”if only to strike fear among those who still entertain the idea that they can get away with stealing our citizens’ hard-earned tax money, especially now that the 2026 budget measure remains under public scrutiny in spite of our efforts to cleanse the same of ‘pork’ and self-aggrandizing ‘insertions’ possibly orchestrated by some incorrigible members of Congress,” the added.
