Contractor St. Timothy Construction Corporation stood to gain roughly P53.9 million in unwarranted benefits from a flawed river rehabilitation contract in Bulacan, the Office of the Ombudsman alleged Thursday as it lodged criminal complaints tied to the work.
The anti-graft body brought charges of graft and malversation against builders Curlee and Sarah Discaya, naming them alongside several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways in connection with the questioned undertaking.
At the center of the complaint is a contract to rehabilitate a river structure along Bulusan in Calumpit, Bulacan, a job carried out under the supervision of the DPWH’s Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office.
According to the DPWH, the conduct of those accused left the government shortchanged while channeling improper gains to the contractor. “Through the collective acts of the accused, undue injury was caused to the government and unwarranted benefit was given to the contractor St. Timothy Construction Corporation in the grand amount of more or less P53.9 million,” the agency said.
The two contractors are already in confinement on separate matters. Curlee Discaya is being held under Senate custody, while Sarah Discaya remains detained in Cebu in relation to graft and malversation charges over a P96.5-million flood control project in Davao Occidental that was billed as finished but, by the government’s account, never actually built.
