Discaya firm’s licenses revoked, P300-B penalties flagged

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has revoked the contractor licenses of nine companies owned by the Discaya family after uncovering irregularities in more than a thousand government projects.

DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said during a press conference on Friday that the Discaya firms undertook 1,214 flood control projects from 2016 to 2025 with a combined contract value of P77.93 billion.

The department now estimates potential penalties at around P300 billion.

Records from the Land Registration Authority showed that the Discayas fully own 18 real estate properties with an appraised value of P1 billion.

To aid recovery, DPWH has sent letters to Sterling Insurance Company, Travellers Insurance Company, and Liberty Insurance Corp. to claim a total of P89.23 million in surety bonds.

Dizon said the revocation of the nine contractor licenses is part of the agency’s crackdown on bid manipulation and ghost projects, which has already led to the referral of several cases to the Philippine Competition Commission.