A local contractor assured the public on Wednesday that his construction firm would not participate in any infrastructure project of the Pasig City local government if his wife, Sarah Discaya, is elected mayor in the upcoming midterm elections.

Curlee Discaya, president and CEO of St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp., a quadruple-A construction company, said they would avoid participating to prevent any conflict of interest.

“At St. Gerrard Construction, this cannot happen because we have a law called RA 9184, which prohibits participation in bidding up to the third degree of consanguinity. Just by joining the bidding, you could already be charged and face six years in prison,” Discaya explained.

“It’s like jumping into boiling oil to fry yourself because it’s really prohibited,” he added.

Discaya further emphasized that even a subsidiary company is not allowed to join the bidding process.

“My wife, Ate Sarah, would not do that because if you’re the contractor, and we really insisted on it, the government would become incompetent. How can you reprimand yourself and blacklist yourself if you’re also the one involved?” he said.

As a quadruple-A construction firm, St. Gerrard Construction handles national-level projects worth billions of pesos. However, Discaya stated that they would focus on helping local contractors in Pasig City.

“We’ll just leave the projects to smaller contractors here in Pasig. Let them have the bidding opportunities so that the small contractors can also have jobs and contribute to providing more work here in the city,” Discaya said.

“Let’s give them the opportunity. If they fight fair and offer quality, good, and affordable prices, they’ll win the projects. Pasig will benefit,” he added.

Pasig City Hall construction cost excessive

Earlier, Discaya said the cost of the new Pasig City Hall building can be reduced from P9.2 billion to P3.5 billion. The P5.7 billion savings will fund new schools, a hospital, and in-city housing projects, he added.

Discaya explained that P250 million is enough to build an 11-story hospital, and new 11-story school buildings will be constructed for Pasig’s public elementary and secondary students, and a new university to accommodate 25,000 Pasig scholars.

He noted that the demolition of the old city hall, originally budgeted at P855 million, will only cost P250 million, with contractors even potentially paying P10 million to the city for materials.

Curlee pointed out that the original P9.6 billion price tag for the city hall was excessive, comparing it to the cost of constructing Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. He emphasized that building the city hall for P60,000 per square meter would be a more reasonable, cost-effective approach.