Metro Manila, Philippines – Contractor-couple Sarah and Curlee Discaya could face hundreds of billion pesos in fines if proven guilty of rigging and manipulating flood control contracts, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said.
The Cabinet official announced this on Friday, Oct. 3, after the agency filed its first batch of recommendation to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to file cases against five contractors over questionable bidding processes for projects in Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro.
In a press briefing, Dizon said the Discayas’ companies alone may be penalized with P300 billion for 1,214 projects from 2016 to 2025 spanning two administrations.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said the Discaya-owned companies bagged nearly P80 billion in the last nine years.
Among these is St. Timothy Construction Corporation, which is among the first batch of companies recommended by the DPWH to be cited for bid rigging before the antitrust body.
Other non-Discaya companies are Wawao Builders, IM Construction Corporation, and Syms Construction Trading for anomalous projects in Bulacan, and Sunwest Inc. for contracts in Oriental Mindoro.
Dizon said on the first batch of cases alone, the estimated penalty for the five companies may reach P2.3 billion.
“So ang gagawin nating strategy dito – we will be filing per contract violation.
So ito yan, 3 contracts ng Wawao, 2 contracts ng IM, 2 contracts ng Syms, 2 contracts ng St. Timothy, and 3 contracts ng Sunwest,” he said, noting that the penalty may cost P110 to P250 million per contract.
[Translation: So our strategy here will be to file per contract violation. So here it is: 3 contracts from Wawao, 2 contracts from IM, 2 contracts from Syms, 2 contracts from St. Timothy, and 3 contracts from Sunwest.]
On the timeline to come out with the verdict and collect fines, Public Works Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe said the PCC will hold a preliminary inquiry that may last three months.
Dizon, however, believes the process would be quicker given the volume of evidence from the investigations.
“In the case of the Discayas, sila na mismo ang umamin na kasama siya sa bid-rigging kasi under oath niya sinabi ito. So I would think those are circumstances that will help PCC speed up the process,” he said.
[Translation: In the case of the Discayas, they themselves admitted that they were involved in the bid-rigging because they stated this under oath. So I would think those are circumstances that will help the PCC speed up the process.]
Sarah Discaya earlier admitted in a Senate inquiry that her family owns nine construction companies, some of which have at times bid for the same government projects. Her husband, Curlee, later recalled her testimony.
Dizon also said he issued a guideline on the Discayas’ nine contractor licenses, which were revoked by the Philippine Contractor’s Accreditation Board in September.
Under his directive, the contract of affected public works projects must be terminated.
A different contractor will take over the project, with rebidding in place for unfinished portions.
P1B in real properties
Meanwhile, Dizon also announced that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has already frozen at least P1 billion in real properties owned by the Discaya couple.
“Sa Discaya pa lang na-appraise na ‘yung 18 out of 18 properties at ang appraised value ng LRA, Land Registration Authority ay P1B pa lang sa Diskaya. So again kasama ito sa pagbawi natin ng pondo, ng pera ng taumbayan,” he said.
[Translation: For Discaya alone, all 18 out of 18 properties have already been appraised, and the appraised value from the LRA, or Land Registration Authority, is already at P1 billion just in Discaya. So again, this is part of our effort to recover public funds, the people’s money.]
