Why are they so rich?

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Over the weekend, a vlog resurfaced of an interview last year by TV5's Julius Babao with Cezarah Rowena "Sarah" Discaya, featuring the 40 luxury vehicles that she and her husband Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II have in their garage.

The vehicles specifically pointed out by the proud owner include a Mercedes Benz, a Bentley and the crown jewel, a Rolls Royce in what she described as "Hermes orange" upholstery and night-sky ceiling effect.

Discaya told Julius that she bought the car because she liked the umbrellas built into the doors—a feature designed into Rolls Royce cars for many years now reportedly because it often rains in her birthplace, London.

No, she wasn't born to British royalty, but to two overseas Filipino workers. According to write-ups about Discaya, her mother worked as a chambermaid and her father as a waiter in the same hotel in London, the city where Sarah finished basic education.

But she took up business administration in the Philippines—first at La Consolacion College, and then at the Pasig Catholic College where she obtained her bachelor's degree and where she must have met her husband Curlee.

According to interviews Discaya gave when she was preparing to run for mayor of Pasig City, she started out as a receptionist, working her way up the corporate ladder until she became the chief financial officer and marketing manager of several construction firms.

That's an impressive feat for a woman who rose from humble origins—a narrative she cultivated in her bid to enter politics. Her husband, who owns Pasig-based St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor Development Corp., is described as a philanthropist and entrepreneur.