THE government’s investigation into alleged irregularities in flood control projects is far from over, Malacanang said on Friday, stressing that the detention of contractor couple, Sarah Discaya and Pacifico Discaya over the Christmas period marks only an early phase of a much broader accountability drive.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Acting Secretary Dave Gomez assured the public that the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. would continue efforts to hold to account all individuals involved in irregularities in infrastructure projects.
“The flood control investigation does not end on Dec. 25. It’s only been a little over four months,” said Gomez, referring to the ongoing probe into alleged irregularities and unexplained wealth linked to the Discaya couple and other individuals involved in anomalous projects.
“The Napoles probe took almost a year before people were sent to jail. There will surely be more thrown behind bars in the New Year,” the PCO Secretary noted, referring to graft convict Janet Lim-Napoles.
Napoles was accused of masterminding the pork barrel scam for at least a decade, allegedly using a network of bogus nongovernment organizations to siphon off public funds, involving about P10 billion in lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to ghost projects in exchange for massive kickbacks.
Addressing comparisons between the Discaya couple and figures involved in past corruption scandals, Gomez noted that the scale of the Discayas’ alleged ill-gotten wealth far exceeds previous cases.
“Some quarters are calling the Discaya couple as the new Napoles, but their unexplained wealth is ten times over. Both spent Christmas in detention,” Gomez added.
Sarah Discaya was arrested on December 18 over a PhP96 million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental and is locked up at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail, while her husband, Pacifico Discaya, is detained at the Senate premises after being cited in contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for inconsistent testimony.
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