The contractor who spent months testifying before the Senate blue ribbon committee is now a detained defendant, as the criminal phase of the flood control scandal reaches the private sector.
The Philippine National Police took flood control contractor Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II into custody at the Senate on Monday, June 8, and transferred him to the Bulacan Provincial Jail after a regional trial court ordered his arrest on a non-bailable malversation charge. The turnover ended nearly nine months of Senate detention that began when the chamber cited Discaya in contempt in late 2025, and it marks one of the first times a private contractor in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal has been moved into the custody of the courts on criminal charges.
According to The Manila Times, PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said "a sufficient number of police personnel" were deployed to the Senate to serve the warrant issued by a regional trial court in Bulacan. "The arrest warrant was implemented in accordance with the law and established procedures in close coordination with the Senate to ensure an orderly, lawful, and transparent turnover process," Nartatez said in a statement. He added: "There will be no special treatment. All persons subject to lawful arrest will be accorded the same standards of professionalism and due process."
The warrant stems from a case filed last week by the Office of the Ombudsman charging Discaya and several others with malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents, in violation of Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Articles 171(4) and 48. The Manila Times reported that Branch 20 of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court on Friday, June 5, ordered the arrest of Discaya, his wife Cezarah Rowena "Sarah" Discaya, and nine others — eleven accused in total — all facing non-bailable charges.
The underlying transaction involves a ₱53.9-million flood control project in Calumpit, Bulacan. According to the Inquirer and Rappler, the Ombudsman's investigators found that payments were released despite the absence of an approved disbursement voucher, and that the project gave St. Timothy Construction Corp. unwarranted benefits totaling ₱53,917,731.92 while causing financial injury to the government. Reporting carried by the Asian Journal and the Inquirer named the other respondents covered by the warrant as including former DPWH engineers and several private individuals.
The arrest does not close the wider net. The Inquirer reported that the PNP said the manhunt continues for the remaining suspects who are not yet in custody; Nartatez said he expects the warrant to be implemented against all co-accused still at large. Some of those named, including Sarah Discaya, are already detained in connection with other cases, according to The Manila Times.
What Discaya does next could matter well beyond his own case. The Manila Times, citing his lawyer, reported that Discaya is prepared to name as many as 150 alleged cohorts in the flood control scheme — a claim that, if acted upon, could expand the Ombudsman's evidentiary base against public officials. As of publication, no such list had been formally submitted to investigators, and the assertion remains an unverified statement by counsel rather than an established fact.
Context
Discaya became a central figure in the Senate blue ribbon committee's 2025 inquiry into anomalous public works projects, where his shifting testimony — including inconsistent statements about the absence of his wife from the hearings — led to his contempt citation and prolonged detention at the Senate. His turnover reflects a shift in the scandal's center of gravity from legislative investigation to criminal prosecution. The Sandiganbayan has already arraigned Senator Jinggoy Estrada on a graft charge tied to the same scandal, while the Ombudsman has filed graft and malversation cases against contractor couples and DPWH officials in Bulacan in recent weeks. The Calumpit case turns on a documentary gap — a missing approved disbursement voucher — the kind of paper-trail failure that auditors and prosecutors have repeatedly flagged across the flood control program.
Malversation through falsification under Article 217 carries heavier penalties as the amount misappropriated rises, and is non-bailable where the evidence of guilt is strong — the legal reason Discaya now sits in a provincial jail rather than posting bond.
Sources
- The Manila Times, "Curlee Discaya taken into PNP custody after Senate turnover" (June 9, 2026) — manilatimes.net
- The Manila Times, "Senate turns over Curlee Discaya to PNP" (June 8, 2026) — manilatimes.net
- The Manila Times, "Discaya ready to name 150 cohorts, lawyer says" (June 9, 2026) — manilatimes.net
- Rappler, "Bulacan court orders Curlee Discaya's arrest over malversation case" — rappler.com
- Philippine Daily Inquirer, "Court orders arrest of Curlee Discaya, 10 others, over malversation case" — inquirer.net
- Philippine Daily Inquirer, "PNP: Manhunt continues for remaining suspects in flood control case" — inquirer.net
- Asian Journal, "Bulacan court orders arrest of Curlee Discaya, 10 others in flood-control malversation case" — asianjournal.com