MANILA — Senators escalated their probe into the multi-billion peso flood control scandal, citing Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya and former Bulacan engineer Henry Alcantara in contempt after catching them in glaring inconsistencies and denials.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s move underscored its impatience with witnesses perceived to be obstructing the investigation. Sen. Raffy Tulfo pushed the contempt motion against Curlee, pointing out that his account about his wife’s absence clashed with the written excuse she herself sent to the panel.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo immediately backed the move, which Committee chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson approved.
Curlee told senators that his wife, Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Discaya, could not attend due to a heart ailment. But her letter cited a conflicting reason: a prior meeting with her employees.
The contradiction drew the eye of Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who first questioned the excuse, and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who pressed for a straight answer.
Lacson later read Sarah’s note aloud, exposing the discrepancy between husband and wife’s accounts.
“Very inconsistent ang pinagsasabi nito. Mag-asawa sila at imposibleng hindi sila nag-uusap sa health condition ng misis niya. Pinagloloko tayo ng mga ‘to,” Sen. Raffy Tulfo fumed.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo chimed in: “Sana nag-usap muna kayo.”
The committee ordered Curlee detained under contempt and issued Sarah a show-cause order compelling her to explain her absence.
The senators also turned their ire on Alcantara, a former Bulacan Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer, who flatly denied knowledge of ghost projects despite documents and testimonies that implicated him.
“The committee cannot accept these denials in the face of contrary documents,” Lacson stressed.
The inquiry, focused on questionable flood control projects worth billions of pesos from 2022 to 2024, is tightening its lens on DPWH insiders and contractors accused of ghost works, shoddy construction, and rigged bidding./PN
