President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to be on the lookout for a couple, Curlee and Sarah Discaya, and personnel of St. Timothy Construction in case warrants of arrest are released.

According to Marcos, recent findings of the Office of the Ombudsman, based on complaints from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), revealed and confirmed a ghost project in Culaman, Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental.

With a value of over P100 million, the flood control project in Culaman started in January 2022 and was awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corporation.

“During the CIDG inspection on 25 September, it was determined that there was no construction in that area,” Marcos said.

“The indigenous peoples and barangay officials confirmed in their joint affidavit that no implementation of the project took place. The Ombudsman found that the submitted final billing, certificate of completion, and inspection reports were falsified or did not correspond to the actual status of the project,” he added.

Marcos also stressed that even the videos and photos presented by the respondent lacked timestamps and could not be validated as referring to the project.

DPWH officials named

Apart from Discayas, several DPWH officials were also identified in the case buildup.

“According to the Ombudsman, the respondents issued and approved documents used for requesting and releasing the entire amount of almost P100 million even though no project was completed or started,” he said.

“These respondents acted with manifest partiality, bad faith, or gross negligence. They caused undue injury to the government and provided unwarranted benefits to the contractor, and some private respondents were involved in the collusion that occurred,” he added.

With this evidence, Marcos said the Ombudsman has filed a case of Malversation through Falsification and violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act Section 3(e).