ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider What witness protection? Discayas should face plunder raps, says Ridon

What witness protection? Discayas should face plunder raps, says Ridon

Published Sep 10, 2025 09:17 am

At A Glance

  • For Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya deserve a plunder indictment, not witness protection benefits.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon (left), Curlee Discaya (PPAB, Facebook)
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon (left), Curlee Discaya (PPAB, Facebook)


For Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya deserve a plunder indictment, not witness protection benefits.
Ridon, overall chairman of the House Infrastructure Committee (infra comm), said the Discayas simply can't meet the most basic requirement to qualify for the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
“Di sila kuwalipikado base sa ‘least guilty’ na pamantayan. Para sa akin, kasama sila sa most guilty sa corruption sa flood control projects (They don't qualify for the 'least guilty' requirement. For me, they're among the most guilty of corruption in flood control projects)," Ridon said in a statement Wednesday, Sept. 10.
A day earlier, Ridon presided over the infra comm hearing that Curlee attended for the first time as witness. His wife, Sarah, didn’t show up.
The Discayas--who ard known for flaunting their wealth--grabbed headlines Monday for alleging that several congressmen or House members received juicy commissions or kickbacks from them through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood control projects that they cornered as contractors.
Ridon said that instead of accepting the Discayas to the government’s WPP, the Department of Justice (DOJ) should look into the possibility of charging them with plunder, or at least corruption of public officials.
“Gaya ng nabanggit ng isang miyembro namin sa komite, puwede silang kasuhan ng plunder at ang ebidensiya ay ‘yung mismong affidavit nila, kung saan inamin nila na involved sila sa corruption,” said the lawyer-legislator.
(Like what one of the members of our committee said, they can be charged with plunder, and the evidence is their own affidavit where they admitted their involvement in corruption.)
Ridon agreed with the assessment of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto that the Discayas want to be turned inro state witnesses against the public officials they claimed to have pocketed billions in kickbacks from flood control projects to protect themselves from possible criminal charges.
Sotto defeated Sarah Discaya in the city mayoral race in last May’s elections. He also attended Tuesday's infra comm hearing.
As far as Ridon is concerned, Curlee's affidavit has already been discredited, and is sufficient basis for the government to reject any requests from the couple to be entered into the WPP.
In the course of Tuesday’s hearing, the Bicol Saro Party-list solon revealed that based on financial statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Discayas collected a total of P93.5 billion from government between 2014 and 2023 for various infrastructure projects, mostly on flood mitigation.
“Based on your admission, you were making a net income of 10 percent to 15 percent. That means that you made P9.35 billion to P14 billion over the course of those years,” he told Curlee.
“Hindi po ganun kalaki ‘yun, your honor (It's not that big, your honor),” the contractor-witness said.
However, Ridon reminded him that he and his wife Sarah had boasted in recent controversial lifestyle television interviews that they were worth “11 digits.”
“That means it’s in the billions,” Ridon pointed out.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.