‘SOMETHING FISHY’: Discaya flood projects in Iloilo City rife with missing, erroneous details

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Story and photos by Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Three flood control projects in Barangay Mohon, Arevalo, Iloilo City — undertaken by construction firms owned by the embattled Discaya family — show missing and erroneous data in records of the Iloilo City District Engineering Office (ICDEO).

The companies involved are St. Gerrard Construction and Development Corp., St. Matthew General Contractor and Development Corp., St. Timothy Construction Corp., Alpha and Omega General Contractor & Development Corp., and YPR General Contractor and Construction Supply Inc.

The Discaya family owns a total of nine construction firms collectively responsible for securing billions of pesos in government flood control contracts.

Their companies have been accused of bid-rigging, with multiple firms bidding against each other for the same contracts. Many of these companies share addresses, auditors, and have overlapping ownership among family members and close associates, raising concerns about transparency and legitimacy.

In front of the Mohon barangay hall, St. Gerrard Construction is implementing a project titled “Construction of Flood Mitigation Structure (Section 1), Iloilo City, Iloilo” with an actual cost of PHP 90,929,717.93.

The project information board indicated that it is funded under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

However, the transparency board lists only a 245-day duration for the project and does not include key details such as the contract ID, project timeline, start date, or completion date.

The contract ID was also absent in the project’s layout plan obtained by Daily Guardian.

The project could not also be found in ICDEO’s status report of its infrastructure projects from 2023 to 2025, nor in its Indicative Annual Procurement Plan for 2024.

Mohon Punong Barangay Francis Acap on Tuesday, September 2, said construction began in the third week of January 2025.

He noted that before the project, flooding in the area only reached knee-deep, but this worsened to waist-deep during the three successive storms in July after the flood structure was installed.

In late July, the city government issued a cease-and-desist order against the project, which was lifted a week later.

Oton Mayor Sofronio Fusin also reported that seven barangays in his town — San Nicolas, San Antonio, Tagbac Sur, Poblacion West, Aligre, Poblacion North, and Buray — experienced unprecedented flooding allegedly due to the project.

NEAR-EQUAL COST, TWIN TIMELINES

Just beside St. Gerrard’s project is another flood control structure listed under contract ID 25GJ0017 with a project name “Construction of Flood Mitigation Structure – Waterways Rehabilitation and Coastal Protection, Section 2, Iloilo City, Iloilo.”

Implemented by St. Matthew General Contractor, the PHP 119,418,701.53 project is funded under the 2025 GAA.

According to ICDEO’s status report,  it was already 82.63% complete, with work beginning on February 20, 2025. Its original contract expiry of November 12, 2025, was later extended to December 9, 2025.

Interestingly, the ICDEO report also listed another flood project, this time, undertaken by St. Timothy Construction Corp.

The project, titled “Construction of Flood Mitigation Structure – Waterways Rehabilitation and Coastal Protection, Section 1, Iloilo City, Iloilo”.

It also shares nearly identical parameters with St. Matthew’s Section 2 project: both started on February 20, 2025, and have comparable budgets, with Section 1 having a cost of PHP 119,418,737.94.

While St. Matthew’s Section 2 has advanced steadily, St. Timothy’s Section 1 project was suspended on June 9, 2025, after obstructions were reported at the site. Its contract, originally set to expire on November 14, 2025, remains in limbo.

Daily Guardian has yet to verify the actual site of St. Timothy’s flood mitigation structure, especially on whether the project is implemented in the same barangay.

CONFLICTING NAMES, IDS 

The third project, reflected on a project board as contract ID 25GJ0053, is titled “Construction of Iloilo City Flood Mitigation Structures–Iloilo City, Iloilo Comprehensive Flood Mitigation Project–Section 1.” It is listed under YPR General Contractor with a PHP 143,303,900.68 budget.

However, ICDEO records show discrepancies.

The same project title appears in agency documents but with a different contract ID, 25G30052, though reflecting the same project cost.

Meanwhile, ICDEO records identify Alpha & Omega General Contractor & Development Corp. as the contractor for 25GJ0053, which is listed as “Construction of Iloilo City Flood Mitigation Structures–Iloilo City, Iloilo Comprehensive Flood Mitigation Project–Section 2.” This project carries an actual budget of PHP 144,703,111.61.

No project board for Alpha & Omega’s project was found in the area during the onsite inspection.

Both projects are funded under the 2025 GAA and are tagged as “work in progress.”

They also involve the construction of a multi-purpose building, share the same start date of June 3, 2025, and are set to expire on March 24, 2026.