Herbosa flags unfinished health facility by Discaya firm

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa on Wednesday revealed that a construction company linked with Curlee and Sarah Discaya also has an unfinished infrastructure project for the Department of Health (DOH) in the Zamboanga region. 

During the Senate Committee on Finance's deliberations on the proposed P320.5-billion budget of the DOH for fiscal year 2026, Herbosa said that when the flood control issue broke out, he investigated if the agency also had any anomalous infrastructure projects in existence. 

“This is for 4th class, 5th class, 6th class municipalities. So 60% lack of human resource, 30% are delayed construction. So kasalanan ng contractor na napondohan, pero hindi natapos. Ito ‘yung mga walk-away—-nanalo sa bidding, kinuha lang ‘yung amount tapos mag-uumpisa ng konti poste tapos aalis na. And then we're stuck with the problem,” he said. 

(This is for 4th class, 5th class, 6th class municipalities. So 60% lack of human resource, 30% are delayed construction. So it's the fault of the contractor who was given the funds, but didn't finish the projects. These are the walk-aways—they won the bidding, they took the funds, built a few posts, and just left. And then we're the ones stuck with the problem.) 

“And then 10% are DPWH. There are some that the local government wants the DPWH to implement, so hindi kami na-implement (ours were not implemented). ‘Yung sa DPWH, ang problem is (the problem with DPWH was the) permit to construct,” he added. 

Herbosa said that a company connected with the Discayas was behind a non-operational or walk-away health center in Zamboanga region in 2020.

Asked by Senate committee on health chairperson Risa Hontiveros which company was in charge of such a questionable project, Herbosa said that it was St. Timothy Construction Corporation. 

Herbosa said that the health facility was built but was not finished and could thus not be used by the public. What also concerns him is that the project was supposedly already fully paid for by the government. 

The DOH chief said that they are now investigating the matter. 

GMA News Online is trying to reach the Discayas for their side of the story.

DOH audit group supervising auditor Ameer Gamama later on clarified in the hearing that St. Gerard Construction, a company also owned by the Discayas, was actually behind the two projects in Zamboanga City that remained unused. 

“Based on record po, ‘yung project ng Discaya in Zamboanga that is a project Mindanao Central Sanitarium... So this is actually 98% complete pero naging idle po siya (it became idle) without a certificate of final acceptance due to pending post completion of the punch list. Pero bayad na po ito (but this was already paid), amounting to P133 million,” Gamama said. 

“Also ‘yung isa po, Sindangan Satellite sa Zamboanga del Norte, St. Gerard din po, P22.45 million. This is also completed but currently being occupied as classroom by the Mindanao State University,” he added. 

Herbosa committed to looking for the perpetrators behind the questionable projects and filing necessary cases before the Office of the Ombudsman if there were any government officials involved. 

He also expressed belief that there was a “collusion” that happened between the contractor and personnel of the DOH. 

“‘Yan po ang aking conclusion din. Kasi kung ang engineer na nag-inspect from our side, binigyan siya ng clean bill na completed, mababayaran siya. Kasi hindi naman mai-issue kung hindi bibigyan ng inspection na clearance. So ‘yun ang side ko na iimbestigahan ko—bakit siya nabayaran kung hindi pa completed? Eh dapat ‘yan progress billing po, Madam Chair,” Herbosa explained. 

(That is also my conclusion. Because if the engineer who inspected from our side was given a clean bill that the project was completed, then she or he will be paid. The money cannot be issued if an inspection clearance was not given. So I will investigate that—why was she paid if it was not completed? That should be in the progress billing, Madam Chair.) 

Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian also cited a Commission on Audit (COA) report in 2024, noting that there were 123 contracts of DOH that were not completed on time, amounting to P11 billion. 

“Some of those, especially COA reports, which is a year after, naaayos din namin with negotiations usually PCAB ‘yung arbitration, napapagusapan… But definitely, we don’t get our value for money kasi nga delayed. Sometimes, after makita mo yung delayed when you try to fix it mas mahal na ulit kasi its another different year na,” Herbosa answered. 

(Some of those, especially COA reports, were fixed with negotiations… But definitely, we don't get our value for money because it is delayed. Sometimes, when the delays are already fixed, it's already more expensive because a year or two has passed.)—LDF, GMA Integrated News