Businessman and contractor Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya will be attending the next Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on alleged irregularities in flood control projects, his lawyer confirmed on Friday.

"Kinausap nya ako kagabi, sabi nya samahan ko daw sya sa Senate hearing on Monday," lawyer Cornelio Samaniego III, legal counsel and spokesperson of the Discaya family, told this reporter in a phone interview.

(He spoke to me last night; he asked me to accompany him to the Senate hearing on Monday.)

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has compelled Curlee and four other contractors, along with three officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), to attend the next hearing into the alleged anomalous government flood control projects on 8 September.

Aside from Curlee Discaya — husband of Sarah Discaya and authorized managing officer of Alpha and Omega General Contractor & Development Corporation — former Bulacan first district assistant engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez was also summoned to the hearing.

The Senate also issued subpoenas to Darcy Kimel D.J. Respicio, general manager of Darcy & Anna Builders and Trading; Sally N. Santos, owner/manager of SYMS Construction Trading; Maritoni P. Melegrito, authorized managing officer of Elite General Contractor and Development Corporation; Edgardo Saggum, owner/manager of Eddmari Construction and Trading; Engr. Jaypee D. Mendoza, chief, construction division, Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office, DPWH; and Engr. Juanito C. Mendoza, accountant III, Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office, DPWH.

Charges being readied

Samaniego also said they are preparing to file criminal charges against the organizer of the protest rally held in front of the St. Gerard Construction office in Barangay Bambang, Pasig City, on Thursday.

The protesters — who are members of a disaster survivor and environmental group — reportedly threw mud, vandalized, and shook the gate of a property of the Discayas, amid the probe into anomalous flood control projects.

"Inaayos na po namin 'yung criminal complaint. We will file charges against the organizer," Samaniego said. “Na-identify na po natin kung sino 'yun leader nila. Na-identify na namin at alam na namin kung saan ipapadala 'yung address."

(We are already preparing the criminal complaint. We will file charges against the organizer. We have already identified who their leader is. We have identified them, and we already know the address where to send it.)

Meanwhile, another protest was staged on Friday outside the St. Gerard Construction compound, this time by activist group Akbayan, with some of them clad in ghost costumes to symbolize alleged “ghost projects” in the government’s flood control projects.

Dubbed “Ghost Hunting in Pasig,” the rallyists — belonging to Youth Against Kurakot (YaK!), Akbayan Party and allied groups — staged a peaceful creative protest to collectively “exorcise” the budget of corruption, and hold accountable Sarah Discaya, her contractor cohorts, and the web of public officials and politicians implicated in the trillion pesos flood control scam.

Khylla Meneses, Akbayan Youth Secretary General and Youth Against Kurakot Co-Convenor, said that all culprits must be unmasked.

"Sobrang dami ng ghost projects na patuloy tayong minumulto. Kaya dapat nating tukuyin at singilin ang mga certified kurakot gaya ng mga Discaya, na hayagang ninanakaw ang kinabukasan ng kabataan. We must exorcise corruption in government once and for all," Meneses said.

(There are so many ‘ghost projects’ that continue to haunt us. So we must identify and hold accountable the certified crooks like the Discayas, who are openly stealing the youth’s future. We must exorcise corruption in government once and for all.)

"'Yung bilyon-bilyong ninakaw sa ghost projects, sana classrooms na ngayon para sa mga estudyante. Pero dahil sa mga kurakot, napunta lang sa bulsa nila. Kaya bilang kabataan, lalaban kami, kasi kinabukasan namin ang ninanakaw nila," Meneses added.

(The billions stolen from these ghost projects should have been classrooms for students by now. But because of the corrupt, the money went into their pockets. So as the youth, we will fight, because they are stealing our future.)

Akbayan President Rafaela “Paeng” David further stressed that the Discayas are just the tip of the iceberg.

“The Discaya syndicate is just a symptom of a deeper network of corruption. We must ask: sino ba ang kasabwat dyan? Sino ang kumikita habang naghihirap ang mga Pilipino? All their links to public officials must be exposed, rooted out, and brought to justice. Only then can we stop this culture of plunder,” David said.

David also urged the immediate freezing of their assets before they transfer the stolen loot to where the government cannot find them.

"Hindi sapat na ilagay sa travel bulletin or tanggalin ang accreditation nila. Dapat i-freeze agad ang mga assets ng Discayas at lahat ng sangkot na kontraktor. Ninakaw nila ito mula sa taumbayan at dapat maibalik ito sa kaban ng bayan,” she added.

(It is not enough to place them on a travel bulletin or revoke their accreditation. The assets of the Discayas and all involved contractors should be frozen immediately. They stole this from the people, and it should be returned to the national coffers.)

The groups also called for passage of key reforms which include the FOI bill, the SALN disclosure bill, and transparency in the whole budget process.