No holiday furlough for Curlee Discaya, 3 ex-DPWH engineers —Lacson

Embattled contractor Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II and three other former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers currently detained in the Senate for their alleged links to the flood control controversy would not be given holiday furlough “due to security concerns,” Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said Tuesday.

Lacson, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, said Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III approved his recommendation to deny the leave requests of Discaya and former engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, and Henry Alcantara.

"I recommended to the Senate President that their request for Christmas furlough be denied mainly for security reasons, owing to the repeated media statements from Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that arrest warrants against them will be issued before Christmas," Lacson said in a statement.

"So the risk of escape becomes greater - not to mention that it makes no sense to grant such requests for Christmas leave if indeed warrants are coming out by then," he added.

Lacson said the four individuals would only be allowed to hear mass in the Senate, and that their families may visit them inside the premises over the holidays.

"That’s the most that we can allow given the circumstances," he said.

To recall, Discaya was cited in contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for lying about the absence of his wife, Sarah, during a hearing on anomalous flood control projects on September 18.

Hernandez, on the other hand, was cited in contempt by the panel on September 8, while Alcantara and Mendoza were cited in contempt on September 18.  —VAL, GMA Integrated News