PASIG CITY – Disaster victims and environmental groups staged a protest outside the offices of St. Gerrard Construction in Pasig City on Wednesday, accusing the company’s owners of profiting from allegedly anomalous flood control projects.

Demonstrators pelted the company’s gate with mud and spray-painted the words “magnanakaw” and “korap” on its compound wall.

Led by People Surge and the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), the protesters said the action symbolized the anger of communities who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and farmland to repeated flooding, while construction contractors and their political allies enriched themselves from public funds.

They also called for Sarah Discaya, the owner of St. Gerrard, and other contractors involved to be held accountable.

Discaya has been linked to ongoing investigations into questionable government flood control projects.

“Every peso pocketed by the Discayas and corrupt politicians translates to another family submerged in floodwaters, another farmer’s livelihood destroyed, another community displaced,” the groups declared in a statement. “The government itself has become a disaster—turning public funds meant for protection and resilience into cash cows for plunder.”

Discayas Profited ₱31B Through 421 Contracts – PCIJ

According to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the Discaya family controls nine construction firms, including Alpha and Omega Construction, Elite General Contractor, and St. Gerrard Construction. Together, the companies secured 421 government contracts worth ₱31 billion.

These projects—many of them flood control works—have been flagged as overpriced, poorly designed, or in some cases, “ghost projects” that exist only on paper. PCIJ has described the Discayas as the country’s “King and Queen of Flood Control.”

Alpha and Omega alone ranked second among the 15 biggest contractors awarded nearly ₱100 billion worth of flood control projects in the past three years.

Recently, the Department of Public Works and Highways issued a suspension of bidding for locally funded projects, while the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board revoked the licenses of nine construction companies owned by the Discayas.

📷 Kalikasan PNE FB