Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has publicly connected several of the country’s biggest flood control contractors—including firms owned by the Discaya family—to alleged deep-seated corruption in public works projects, vowing to pursue legal action and collect what he says are massive unpaid taxes owed to the city.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Sotto said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s recent disclosure of the Top 15 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) contractors for flood control projects revealed that Alpha & Omega and St. Timothy—ranked second and third on the list—are controlled by the Discayas, along with St. Gerrard Construction, which has previously figured in disputes with the Pasig LGU.
“Ngayon, unti-unti nang nalalaman ng taumbayan ang buong katotohanan,” Sotto wrote, recalling the President’s own rebuke in his State of the Nation Address: “Mahiya naman kayo!”
Sotto outlined what he described as the “six stages of corruption” in such projects: questionable bidding processes, substandard or even non-existent works, “SOP” cuts allegedly exceeding half the project cost, non-payment of proper taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, under-declared or zero business taxes to local governments, and finally, the use of stolen funds to build political influence.
“One top contractor declared zero gross revenue to the LGU despite being among the biggest in the country. Grabe, diba?” Sotto said.
He added that while exposing such schemes can be “difficult and even dangerous,” the Pasig City government will act on two fronts:
Submitting all information and red flags to the President; and
Continuing legal cases to recover “millions if not billions of pesos” in unpaid local business taxes.
Sotto stressed that collecting these taxes alone could fully fund the construction of a new building for the judiciary and national government agencies in Pasig without touching the budget of other programs.
The controversy follows President Marcos’ order for a nationwide audit of flood control projects, after revealing that 15 contractors cornered ₱100 billion worth of contracts since 2022—an unusually large share from a pool of over 2,400 bidders. Several of these projects are now under scrutiny for being substandard or “ghost” works.
