Contractor Curlee Discaya and former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza will spend the holidays in Senate detention after their Christmas furlough request was denied, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said.
In Manila, Philippines, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson announced that he recommended denying the Christmas furlough request of contractor Curlee Discaya and former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza for security reasons. He cited repeated media statements from Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. indicating arrest warrants would be issued before Christmas. The four were cited for contempt and detained for lying before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee during its flood control probe.
Lacson added, '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.' However, they are allowed to attend mass at the Senate and receive family visits within the premises, but they cannot leave custody. 'That’s the most that we can allow, given the circumstances,' he said.
While Curlee Discaya remains in Senate custody, his contractor wife Sarah has been arrested and is detained at Lapu-Lapu city jail on a non-bailable malversation case involving an alleged P96.5-million 'ghost' flood control project in Davao Occidental. This incident is part of a larger flood control scandal involving DPWH officials, including the late former undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, whom Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla estimated may have amassed up to P20 billion in ill-gotten wealth from anomalous projects.
