Vico Sotto warns about Discayas' 'lies, ulterior motive'

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Tuesday warned about the supposed "ulterior motive" of contractors Pacifico and Sarah Discaya, who he said may only be positioning themselves to become state witnesses in order to "muddle the truth." 

Sotto made the warning after he was asked if he is in favor of the Discayas being state witnesses for the flood control projects.

“Let’s take everything with a grain of salt. When we hear from them, let us not take it hook, line, and sinker. Bakit? May ulterior motive sila eh. Number one, they have hundreds, if not thousands, of government contracts. Pero sinabi nila sa Senado, wala silang magawa kailangan nila magbigay ng SOP,” Sotto told reporters.

(They have an ulterior motive. They said they are helpless, that they need to pay off people.)

“Ang balak nila ngayon, guluhin na tayo, lituhin tayo, para hindi natin alam yung facts. Hindi maging malinaw yung ebidensya,”

(They want to confuse us and lose sight of the facts. They want to create a smokescreen over the evidence.)

Sotto cited Mr. Discaya initially saying during the House control probe that he will name more individuals involved in the flood control mess, then asking for an Executive Session, then  ultimately say he won't name additional individuals anymore. 

“Kung totoo yung sinasabi nila, ano nangyari dun sa hundreds or thousands of other projects? Bakit 26 lang yung nasa listahan? Ang tanong, paano nila napili kung sino ‘yung nasa listahan na yun? Obviously, there is a lie somewhere,” Sotto said.

(If they were telling the truth, why only list 26? How did they choose 26?)

“Itong listahan ni Discaya... itong buong statement nila, malinaw na malinaw na kasinungalingan,” Sotto added.

(Their entire statement, very clearly, is all lies.) 

On Monday, the Discayas disclosed the names of several congressmen, their staff, and officials of DPWH who are allegedly involved in corruption in the country’s flood control projects. 

Later in the same House flood control probe, Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya maintained that they did not steal public funds in doing business with the government.

“Hindi naman po kami nagnakaw. Napilitan naman po kami gawin ang bagay na ito sapagkat minimutual terminate nila ang mga project namin, hindi kami pinasisingil, Road right of way [na dahilan para di matuloy] ang nangyayari po,” Curlee said.

(We did not steal anything. We were forced to do his because they will terminate our contract for these projects, we can’t charge them of our collectibles, that it cannot be pursued due to right of way issues.)

“Kaya po kami po sinigaw nalang po namin ito kasi namili po kami mag-asawa. Isang kilong bulak o isang kilong ginto, ang pinili namin, ginto. Kasi kahit kami mamatay bukas o papatayin kami ng mga politikong ilang piraso na ito, alam po namin na may dangal kami mamamatay, kaysa patayin kami ng buong Pilipinas,” he added.

(We did this because we made a choice between one kilo of cotton or one kilo of gold. We chose gold, because even if we die tomorrow and we get killed by politicians,  we know we will die with dignity, as compared with us being killed by Filipinos.) — VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News