Five reveals from the flood-control data

By Guinevere Latoza

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

Between July 2022 and May 2025, the first three years of the Marcos presidency, the government funded 9,855 flood-control projects worth over P545 billion. We analyzed those projects and the companies that got the contracts to build them.

Massive flooding in recent months have put these projects in the harsh glare of public scrutiny, with allegations of substandard work and links to corrupt practices. “Mahiya naman kayo,” President Marcos said in his State-of-the-Nation address in July, shaming contractors and officials involved in kickbacks linked to failed flood-control projects.

In a recent privilege speech, Senator Panfilo Lacson said as much as 60% of infrastructure funds could go to “commissions” and off-the-books payments to legislators, public works officials, auditors and others. “The pie-sharing varies depending on the level of greed,” he said.

Here are some takeaways from our analysis of the flood-control data. For those interested in corporate and other records linked to flood-control projects, PCIJ has posted them on this page (https://pcij.org/2025/08/30/flood-control-records/).

1. Flood-control projects fund extravagant lifestyles.

Billionaire couple Pacifico “Curlee” II and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya can be dubbed the King and Queen of Flood Control. The six construction companies founded by the couple and their son bagged 345 solo and joint projects worth a whopping P25.2 billion pesos. That’s three times the P8.6 billion allocated for “housing and community amenities” in the proposed 2025 budget. No other contractors came close.

But that may not be all. Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, who ran against Sarah Discaya last May, has linked three other construction firms to the couple: YPR Gen. Contractor and Construction, Elite General Contractors and Development Corp., and Amethyst Horizon Builders. Curlee Discaya is listed as the chief operating officer of all three. In addition, two of these have joint ventures with Discaya-owned firms.

Taken together, all Discaya-linked companies bagged 421 projects totaling P31 billion. That’s more than the annual net revenues clocked by Ayala Land in recent years. (PCIJ obtained SEC records for these companies; copies can be found here.)

The Pasig couple have not been shy about displaying their wealth, recently regaling TV viewers with glimpses of their lavish lifestyle, including their multistory compound bedecked with opulent chandeliers and crystal statues. They also showed off a parking garage with over 40 luxury vehicles, a collection estimated by Philstar.com to be worth between P337 million and P465 million.

2. It pays to be in Congress, especially if you chair the appropriations committee.

If the Discayas are the king and queen of flood control, the Co family of Bicol are royalty. Indeed, Claudine Co, described by entertainment site PEP as a vlogger-influencer-singer “known for her travel diaries, fashion hauls, and everyday glimpses of luxury,” lives a royal lifestyle that includes a P25-million Mercedes Benz SUV, rides on private planes, and apartment hunting in Paris.

She happens to be a scion of a Bicol political family linked to construction firms that got P15.7 billion in flood-control contracts between 2022 and 2025 when Claudine’s uncle, Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, chaired the powerful appropriations committee of the House. That committee has immense power in drawing up the national budget, including flood-control projects.

Sunwest Inc., founded by Elizaldy and his brother Christopher, the former party-list representative who is Claudine’s dad, has P10 billion-worth of flood-control contracts, the biggest allocation of any single firm.

Christopher also formed Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp., which racked up P4.6 billion-worth of contracts. Both brothers formally divested from their firms when they were elected to the House. But Rappler reported that Zaldy still has a stake in other companies tied to Sunwest.

Their sister, Albay Vice Gov. Farida Co, owns FS Co Builders and Supply, which got 13 contracts worth P1.2 billion, some of which were projects built in partnership with Hi-Tone.

Members of Claudine’s family have represented Ako Bicol since 2010. The 1987 Constitution had intended the party-list system to give voice to underrepresented and marginalized groups in Congress.

3. Congress is investigating flood-control contracts but many lawmakers own or are linked to contracting firms or have been accused of getting kickbacks from them.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives have launched investigations into anomalous flood-control projects.

The Senate blue ribbon committee is set to hold its second hearing on Sept. 1, while the House “infrastructure committee” will kick off its first on Sept. 2.

But vocal critics, including some of their colleagues, have questioned Congress’ credibility to probe the matter when lawmakers themselves are tied to contractors. Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong says some lawmakers are paid 30% to 40% of the contract costs by well-connected firms that bag contracts. According to Lacson, some legislators got kickbacks from congressional insertions and unprogrammed appropriations for public works projects in the national budget.

By our count, at least 18 members of the 20th Congress have ownership or other connections to companies that have gotten public works contracts from the government. (Check out the SEC papers obtained by PCIJ here.)

4. Bad contractors can get good contracts.

The best contractors are not necessarily the biggest ones. The 15 contractors who got the largest sums out of the flood-control contracts have checkered records.

Two are facing possible tax audits. One has a previous graft case. Another has been criticized for endangering locals. Over half of the 15 have gotten “poor” (less than 75%) or “unsatisfactory” (75–82%) marks from the Construction Performance Evaluation System (CPES).

The Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines uses the  CPES rating system to evaluate construction companies’ performance in government projects.

A poor or unsatisfactory rating should ideally result in a contractor’s disqualification from future biddings, according to the CPES implementing guidelines. A blacklisted firm is automatically delisted when the period for the penalty has elapsed, unless the blacklisting agency requests the Government Procurement Policy Board to maintain the firm’s status.

The Discayas’ St. Timothy (No. 6) is one of the contractors of a damaged Navotas floodgate that has failed to control flooding in the city. It was also criticized for participating in a joint venture for the supply of election materials in the May 2025 midterm election, considering its founder Sarah Discaya’s electoral bid. The firm was pressured to pull out from the deal at the last minute.

St. Timothy and three more Discaya firms—Alpha & Omega (No. 5), St. Matthew (No. 17), and St. Gerrard (No. 50)—were also the subjects of a Bureau of Internal Revenue tax investigation, upheld by the Court of Tax Appeals in 2022. The BIR and the Bureau of Customs have recently also announced investigations into the couples’ financial records.

The Co-linked Sunwest and Hi-Tone have both received poor and unsatisfactory ratings, the former for the rehabilitation of a wharf in Tabaco, Albay, and the latter for upgrade of a Legazpi wharf and the construction of a road leading to Romblon airport.

The Cos’ Sunwest projects, in particular, have been found to be subpar, suspicious, or in violation of regulations, including:

• In 2012, the Commission on Audit found that a road it built was short of 2,000 square meters.
• In 2020, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau flagged Sunwest and 14 other companies for violating quarrying permits. The agency eventually cleared them and allowed the resumption of their activities.
• In 2021, the firm was investigated for medical supply contracts with the government during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Senators said it was “suspicious” for a construction company to venture into such a deal.
• In 2021, Sunwest entered into a contract with the Department of Education to supply laptops for teachers. In July 2025, the Office of the Ombudsman charged former top education officials for procuring overpriced and outdated laptops from Sunwest and two other firms.
• Civil society groups in Western Visayas claimed that Sunwest’s P2.6-billion road project in the region poses risks to the biodiverse Central Panay Mountain Range.

Other contractors among the top 15 have also been called out, including:

• Equi-Parco (No.9), based in Agusan del Norte and founded by former Butuan Mayor Ronnie Vicente Lagnada, has received two unsatisfactory or poor ratings.
• Legacy (No. 2), whose owner, Alex Abelido, was accused of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act over a waterworks contract with the town of Valencia, Negros Oriental in 2000 but was eventually acquitted. Legacy has the worst record among all 15 firms, with at least four poor or unsatisfactory CPES ratings. It is followed by Road Edge Development Services (No. 14) which had three records, while EGB (No. 3), M.G. Samidan Construction (No. 11) and L.R. Tiqui Builders (No. 12) had at least one poor or unsatisfactory evaluation each.
• Some projects of QM Builders have been embroiled in controversy, including accusations of causing a landslide, a flash flood, and displacement of locals.

5. Flood-prone areas in Mindanao got the least number and amount of projects.

Funding for the 10 most flood-prone provinces identified by the Mines and Geoscience Bureau is uneven, with Luzon provinces getting more than those in Mindanao, despite being smaller in size and in some cases, less vulnerable to floods.

The fifth most vulnerable area in the country, Maguindanao del Norte and Sur, got P2.4 billion. Metro Manila, which is 16 times smaller and less flood-prone, got 20 times the two provinces’ funding.

In fact, the nation’s capital, together with Bulacan province, gobbled up 15% of the funding for flood-control structures built in the first three years of the Marcos Jr. administration. All projects in Metro Manila have a price tag of P52.5 billion, while those in Bulacan are valued at P43.7 billion.

Only these two areas got funding of more than P30 billion.

Isabela and Cebu each had a budget between P20 to 30 billion. Meanwhile, 13 provinces had budgets between P10 to 20 billion: Tarlac, Camarines Sur, Albay, Pampanga, Leyte, Pangasinan, Misamis Oriental, La Union, Oriental Mindoro, Negros Occidental, Cavite, Davao del Sur, and Ilocos Norte.

Sixty-four remaining provinces had a budget of P10 million and below, while Tawi-Tawi is the only province with no listed flood-control project over the last three years. (With research by Christian Chua)