Discaya denies contractor ties, ghost projects; admits to owning 28 luxury cars
MANILA, Philippines — Former Pasig mayoral candidate and contractor Sarah Discaya finally appeared at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the country’s flood control projects, where lawmakers scrutinized her true role in her family’s construction firms.
The embattled contractor denied any involvement in ghost projects or special ties to Department of Public Works and Highways officials, saying the family has already divested from most of the companies. “We are no longer part of these companies,” Discaya said.
She added that some divestments have been completed and that she is directly involved only with one firm. “Some of these companies, we’ve divested from those companies, so I am directly only with Alpha and Omega,” Discaya said in a mix of English and Filipino.
During the hearing, Discaya acknowledged that her family owns a total of nine companies. Sen. Risa Hontiveros later produced calling cards showing that Discaya’s husband, Pacifico Discaya, used different business cards for each firm, and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada showed that family members held executive positions across all nine companies.
Sarah initially estimated that her firms had around 400 contracted projects nationwide but said she could not confirm an exact tally. She said the firms had bid for many projects but were selected for only a few. Later, she supplied a more specific figure for one company: Alpha and Omega bid for 491 flood-control projects in 2022 and secured 71 of them.
Sen. Tito Sotto — uncle of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, whom Discaya once challenged politically — was among the first to press her about a viral interview in which she said she made her first billion after her family began working with the DPWH. When asked if she thought the video was manipulated, Discaya responded that it was spliced.
“Puwede naman po siguro kami kumita,” Discaya told Sotto. (I think we are allowed to earn.)
A stern Estrada warned Discaya she could face jail time if found to be lying, and he instructed her to submit photographs documenting all 400 projects her firms claimed to have worked on.
Discaya said her family’s firms — St. Gerard, Alpha and Omega among them — have been in the construction business for 23 years and worked with local government units before securing work with the DPWH in 2016, the year former president Rodrigo Duterte took office.
Divestment questions
While Sarah denied direct involvement in the firms question, Sen. Erwin Tulfo noted that she and her husband, nicknamed Curlee, were still listed as chief operating officers (COO) for some of these firms.
Sarah said she was not the COO—but the chief finance officer, or CFO. She claimed she was only helping these companies.
“So you haven’t completely divested all your interest?” Estrada asked Sarah. “She didn’t divest totally, you’re still the CFO, according to you.”
To this, Sarah again affirmed that she was the CFO, but claimed that she did not "manage" these companies. A C-suite executive, however, is considered a top-level manager in most companies.
"Naintindihan niyo po yung divestment?" Sen. Rodante Marcoleta asked Discaya. (Do you understand what divestment is?)
Divestment, which is ceding ownership or control, would suggest she already has severed ties from the company on paper. As CFO, Discaya would still have access to sensitive financial information, make executive-level decisions and legally represent the company.
Sarah mentioned that in the case of St. Timothy Construction Corp, another firm linked to the Discayas, she had transferred ownership to her husband’s niece.
Luxury car collection
Another hot topic during the Senate hearing was Sarah’s famed luxury cars. In the viral interview, she claimed that her family owned 40 luxury vehicles.
During the hearing, she confirmed that they owned a total of 40 luxury cars, but clarified that 28 of them were for personal use, while the remaining ones were service vehicles.
The Discayas’ luxury vehicle collection includes Cadillac, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, Bentley and more, with some of these cars costing around P11 million each.
Sarah mentioned that she has four children who use the cars, though senators argued that this was still excessive. They pointed out that each of the Discaya children would have seven different luxury vehicles at their disposal.
She added that her family typically buys one to three cars per year.
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