ASEANEWS HEADLINE-COURTS & CRIME | MANILA, Philippines: Sarah Discaya surrenders to NBI amid looming arrest
Contractor Sarah Discaya surrenders to NBI amid looming arrest warrant over flood controversy | ANC
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MANILA, Philippines — Contractor Sarah Discaya surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday, hours after President Marcos announced that an arrest warrant against her was expected to be out this week in connection with alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
Discaya arrived at the NBI headquarters in Pasay at around 10 a.m. accompanied by one of her lawyers.
In a video message released earlier in the day, Marcos said authorities were preparing to enforce the arrest order.
Cornelio Samaniego III, spokesman and legal counsel for the Discayas, said Sarah turned herself in to the NBI despite the absence of an arrest warrant.
“As far as we know, no warrant has been released yet,” Samaniego told “Storycon” on One News yesterday. “Until a warrant is issued, she is not under the voluntary custody of the court.”
He denied that Sarah Discaya tried to flee the country, saying that “if they wanted to leave, they could have done so long ago.”
Discaya and her husband Curlee are under investigation after their companies were linked to questionable flood control contracts.
The couple owns Alpha and Omega General Contractor & Development Corp., one of the 15 firms earlier named by Marcos that reportedly cornered about 20 percent of flood control projects nationwide.
Discaya and nine others face complaints for alleged malversation of public funds and violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, over a P96-million ghost flood control project in Barangay Culaman in Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental.
Curled is currently detained in the Senate after being cited in contempt.
The Discayas had earlier sought to become state witnesses, but the Office of the Ombudsman rejected the possibility, saying their level of involvement made them ineligible. The couple has also stopped coordinating with the Department of Justice.
Forced to give kickbacks?
According to Samaniego, the Discayas had been “forced” to give kickbacks in flood control projects that are now under scrutiny.
“They exhausted all legal processes. From the start of this issue, the couple has been cooperative,” Samaniego said, noting that the two later backed out of entering the Witness Protection Program because of what he described as constantly changing conditions.
The lawyer also confirmed that the couple is under financial strain after the Court of Appeals granted a freeze order on their bank accounts.
Samaniego said it is up to prosecutors to determine whether the couple may still qualify as state witnesses.
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“Their testimony is for the prosecution to decide,” he said. “They were the first to identify two undersecretaries, a congressman, regional officials and district engineers. But now they are the ones being blamed.”
On the possibility of restitution, a key government condition for state witness status, Samaniego said only the court may order it.
“As a lawyer who appears in court, only the court can order civil liability or restitution,” he said. “But from the beginning, the couple has cooperated.”
He added that the Discayas’ funds were legitimately sourced.
“The money of the Discayas is legal. It came from government payments through Land Bank,” he said.
Meanwhile, acting Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said they are ready to arrest Discaya once a court issues a warrant against her.
“It is in our mandate to arrest people, especially those who are covered with warrants of arrest and we are always poreparing for that,” he said at a news briefing in Camp Crame. — Emmanuel Tupas
