Marcos announces arrest warrant for Sarah Discaya, others in P96.5M ghost flood control project

The court has issued a warrant for the arrest of 10 principal accused in the P96.5-million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental, including contractor Sarah Discaya, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., announced on Thursday night.

Marcos pointed out that the accused are facing charges for graft and malversation of public funds, a non-bailable case, which means they may not post bail for their provisional liberty while they are being tried in court.

"Ipapaabot ko po sa inyo na ang PhP96.5 million na ghost flood project sa Davao Occidental, naglabas na ng warrant of arrest ang korte laban sa sampung  pangunahing sangkot dito sa anomalyang ito," Marcos said.

"Ang mga akusado ay nahaharap sa kasong graft at malversation. Ito pong mga kasong ito, hindi po bailable ito. Hindi pwedeng bayaran ang kanilang, para sila’y makalabas sa kulungan," he added.

"Kabilang na po rito si Sarah Discaya na sa kasalukuyan ay nasa kustodiya ng NBI. Bukod dito may walong opisyal pa ng DPWH ang nagpahayag ng kagustuhan nilang sumuko," Marcos said.

(I would like to inform you that, as regards the P96.5 million ghost flood project in Davao Occidental, the court has issued an arrest warrant against the ten main suspects involved in this anomaly. The accused are facing graft and malversation charges. These cases are not bailable. Bail cannot be paid, so they can be released from jail. This includes Sarah Discaya, who is currently in the custody of the NBI. Apart from this, eight other DPWH officials have expressed their willingness to surrender.)

In early December, the Office of the Ombudsman charged Discaya and others over a P96.5-million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental. 

The Ombudsman filed malversation and corruption charges before the Digos Regional Trial Court against contractors Discaya and Maria Roma Angeline Rimando of St. Timothy Construction, and the following Department of Public Works and Highways-Davao Occidental officials:

• Rodrigo Larete
• Michael Awa
• Joel Lumogdang
• Harold John Villaver
• Jafael Faunillian
• Josephine Valdez
• Ranulfo Flores and
• Czar Ryan Ubungen

Discaya is currently under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Discaya surrendered to the NBI last week after Marcos said that an arrest warrant is set to be issued against her over anomalous flood control projects.

Acting NBI Director Angelito “Lito” Magno earlier said that Discaya may still leave the NBI premises as the court has yet to issue an arrest warrant against her.

For their part, her camp has dubbed the surrender as a “strategic legal move” and not an admission of wrongdoing.

The Supreme Court (SC) said Wednesday that two cases filed against contractor Sarah Discaya and DPWH-Davao Occidental engineers were transferred to the Lapu-Lapu City regional trial court.

SC spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting said this was in accordance with guidelines that corruption-related cases from infrastructure projects must be forwarded to the nearest designated anti-graft court of the nearest judicial region.

“The determination of the nearest judicial region shall be made by the presiding or executive judge concerned,” Ting told reporters.

To recall, the SC previously designated several regional trial courts to handle anti-graft cases. –NB, GMA Integrated News