Sarah Discaya Clarifies Wealth Sources, Denies Claims Tied Only to DPWH
SARAH DISCAYA – Ex-Pasig mayoral bet Sarah Discaya has spoken out against a viral video that she claims was spliced to falsely portray her family’s wealth as coming exclusively from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects.
Flood control contractor and former Pasig mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya clarified on Monday that her viral interview had been edited to mislead the public into believing her family’s wealth came only from projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Discaya explained that her family has been engaged in the construction industry for more than two decades, stressing that their business success did not begin with DPWH projects. “I would presume na in the 23 years, pwede naman po siguro kami kumita,” she said during a Senate hearing on questionable flood control initiatives.
According to Sarah Discaya, their firms originally handled projects for local government units before eventually joining DPWH bidding. She maintained that her reference to the DPWH during the viral interview was misrepresented. “Ang hirap makasingil sa local government. They spliced the video that was taken of me and just mentioned the DPWH,” she said, insisting the statement was taken out of context.
Discaya is linked to St. Gerrard and several other construction companies that have secured significant government contracts. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier disclosed that 15 contractors, including firms associated with Discaya, cornered P100 billion, or about 20 percent, of the P545-billion allocation for flood control programs.
Providing background, Discaya shared that her father also worked as a contractor handling local government projects. Before joining the family business, she herself had overseas experience working as a dental receptionist and orthodontic nurse.
Sarah Discaya recounted that their companies began joining DPWH bids around 2012 and eventually won projects from 2016 onward. “Nakita namin noon [sa] PhilGEPS na may mga projects na pwede palang mag-join. So we joined the bidding that we know we were qualified for,” she explained.
To support her claims of legitimate operations, Discaya told senators she is prepared to submit her accountant’s tax records. She emphasized that her family’s financial growth was the result of years of work in construction, not solely due to DPWH contracts.