NBI submits flood control anomaly report to DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation has turned over to the Department of Justice (DOJ) the NBI’s initial findings on anomalous flood control projects, confirming that several construction firms implicated in the case are linked to contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago said the bureau completed its first round of investigation, but the DOJ would be the one to determine what charges may be filed in court.

“We have submitted our report to the DOJ, which created a task force to evaluate our findings,” Santiago said in an interview over dzRH.

He said NBI probers found that many of the companies under investigation were “interlocking firms” –corporations with different names, but with the same addresses and overlapping directors.

“There are different construction companies, but all tied to one address. Most of them were connected to the Discayas,” Santiago said.

Probers said the setup indicates a scheme wherein multiple firms linked to the Discaya family allegedly monopolized biddings of the Department of Public Works and Highways and cornered multibillion-peso contracts for flood control projects.