Discayas face P300-B fines for rigged bidding

20 DPWH engineers may lose licenses

- By EMMANUEL TUPAS

Construction firms owned by contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya could face fines totaling as much as P300 billion due to alleged bid rigging in over 1,200 flood control projects, the Department of Public Works and Highways announced yesterday.

DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the department has referred cases of bid manipulation and bid rigging to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for a preliminary inquiry and possible filing of charges under Republic Act 10667, the Philippine Competition Act.

The cases involve 12 flood control projects in Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro, which include five contractors. Among them is St. Timothy Construction Corp., owned by the Discaya couple, which secured two of these projects.

Other contractors implicated include Wawao Builders and Sunwest Inc., each with three projects, as well as IM Construction Corp. and SYMS Construction Trading Inc., each with two projects.

"What we are asking from the PCC is to investigate the bid manipulation with the appropriate penalty per contract violation," Dizon said in Filipino during a press conference in Quezon City.

Dizon estimated penalties for the 12 projects at around P2.3 billion but warned the Discaya couple could face much steeper fines for the rest of the projects they obtained from the government.

From 2016 to 2025, companies owned by the Discayas reportedly won 1,214 flood control projects worth a total of P77.934 billion.

With the maximum penalty set at P250 million per contract, Dizon projected the Discayas could be fined up to P300 billion.

The DPWH chief also pointed to the couple's admission before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, where they acknowledged their companies' participation in bid rigging, as critical evidence.

"We have to throw everything at these people.