MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to scrutinize the 15-year track record of Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya and his wife, Sarah, should they apply to become state witnesses in cases involving corruption in flood control projects.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla made this clear during Tuesday’s budget hearing for the DOJ’s proposed ₱40 billion allocation for 2026. He stressed that the couple’s full history as government contractors must be laid bare—not just fragments of it.
“They’ve been contractors for 15 years. If they’ll only tell us about the last three, that’s incomplete,” Remulla said. “We need contracts, dates, names of engineers, and lawmakers involved. If we need to go back to 1998, so be it. We cannot understand the system unless we see the whole history.”
The Discayas earlier alleged that several lawmakers and officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) pocketed commissions from flood control projects—payments they claimed they were forced to make to keep their contracts.
But skepticism quickly followed. Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, who defeated Sarah Discaya in the 2025 elections, openly challenged their credibility.
“How can they claim to be billionaires with 11-digit wealth when profits in government projects are only 2 to 3 percent?” Sotto asked. He also pointed out inconsistencies in the couple’s list of 26 officials, questioning how the names were chosen.
“This list, their entire statement—it’s clearly a lie,” Sotto declared.
As the DOJ weighs the possibility of granting the Discayas state witness status, the couple faces mounting pressure to prove their claims with hard evidence. For now, questions overshadow their story, leaving the public to wonder: truth-tellers or master manipulators?
