MANILA — A House lawmaker has chided Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya for “exhibiting selective amnesia,” as the contractor did not include in his testimony information about government officials during the 2016–2022 Duterte administration who allegedly demanded kickbacks on projects that his family’s construction firms won during that period.

This stands in contrast to the “courage” of Discaya in naming lawmakers and other officials under the current administration whom he accused of receiving kickbacks from flood control projects, said Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro (Batangas, 2nd District).

During the September 9, 2025 continuation of the House of Representatives Committee on Infrastructure (Infra-Comm) investigation into the alleged flood control anomalies, Luistro, who is a lawyer, presented a graph showing the revenues earned by the Discayas from the operations of their nine construction firms.

“If you will notice Mr. Discaya, yung revenue mo, nag-spike 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and even the first half of 2022. This only shows Mr. Discaya, that the revenue that you are generating during the former administration 2016-2022 is bigger than the revenue that you are generating under the current administration,” Luistro said.

She highlighted that the Discayas cornered P12 billion worth of contracts during the Duterte years, and even ranked number one nationwide among contractors with the largest awarded projects.

“Are you saying na yung pagbibigay mo ng pera sa DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] at sa mga lawmakers happened only during the current administration but did not happen during the previous administration?” she asked.

Discaya replied, “Ah wala po. Pero nilalabanan po namin sa tunay na bidding, nagpapa-dyaryo po kami.”

He later said, “Your Honor, mayroon din naman pong nanghihingi pero takot din po sila. Takot sila ’pag napapadyaryo po sila.”

Luistro stressed, “With that amount of awarded contract to Mr. Discaya, that is P12 billion… I do not understand why a simple publication would make a difference between the previous and the current administration.”

Discaya admitted there were demands for kickbacks, but said he did not include them in his Senate affidavit because the attempts to solicit money “were not successful.”

Luistro then said, “Nonetheless, there were some who asked. There is a rule on evidence: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. False testimony in one is false testimony in all. Why the sudden selective amnesia, Mr. Discaya. How do you explain that during the past administration, you are top contractor and yet you are claiming na walang nanghihingi unlike during the current administration? Your affidavit is full of inconsistencies and lies.”

Pressed further, Discaya later named a certain DPWH District Engineer (DE) Art Pascual, who is already deceased. “Si DE Art Pascual, patay na po siya. Kawawa naman. Bago po siya namatay, pina-blacklist niya po kami dahil sa negative slippage, siya po talaga nanghihingi sa amin,” Discaya said.

Infra-Comm lead presider Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro Partylist) called out Discaya for accusing a dead person who can no longer respond to his testimony. “Huwag kang magbanggit ng pangalan ng patay na. Bakit pangalan ng patay ang binabanggit mo eh hindi na iyon makakasagot sa yo,” the solon said.

In a press conference later, Discaya’s counsel, Atty. Cornelio Samaniego III, insisted that the Discayas only included in their affidavit their projects from July 2022 onwards because this was the timeframe requested by the Senate.

When asked if the couple is ready to give names from past administrations who were involved in the controversy,
Samaniego said, “definitely.”

However, Discaya stated during the House hearing that there are no more names to add to the list provided to the Senate.

It was House Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal Partylist) who pointed out that Discaya’s affidavit used the phrase “ilan sa kanila ay sina…” to describe lawmakers allegedly involved, suggesting that the list he provided was still incomplete and there were other personalities yet to be named.

De Lima then pressed him to clarify whether the unnamed officials were members of the House or the Senate. Discaya said he was unsure about some documents and requested that any further disclosures be made in an executive session.

De Lima rejected the request, noting that Discaya had publicly named House members during his Senate Blue Ribbon testimony without asking for closed-door proceedings.

“Kung kayang-kaya nyo po na pangalanan ang ilan sa mga members ng House of Representatives, … that was not an executive session. That was in open and public proceedings … I do not understand kung bakit all of a sudden, you will be asking for an executive session dito po sa harap ng miyembro ng committee ng House of Representatives,” she said.

When asked if he still intended to provide more names, Discaya said: “Hindi po, your honor, wala po.”

Interrogated further if the list he provided to the Senate was still incomplete and if he would still add names to it, Discaya said, “Ito na po lahat.”

📷 House of Representatives of the Philippines