Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed multiple criminal complaints against controversial government contractors Sarah Discaya and Curlee Discaya for alleged unpaid taxes totaling P7.18 billion.

The cases involve unpaid income, excise and documentary stamp taxes tied to the couple and their companies, including St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp.

Aside from the couple, another corporate officer of St. Gerrard Construction was also slapped in the tax evasion complaints, covering the years 2018 to 2021.

‘We have assessed a total tax liability of P7,182,172,532.25,’ BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said in a statement Wednesday, October 8.

Besides income and excise taxes, the Discayas have also failed to remit taxes for transfers of shares in four of their construction companies, the tax chief said.

‘This is composed of several investigations on the unpaid individual income taxes of Curlee and Sarah Discaya, the unpaid excise taxes on their nine luxury vehicles, and the unpaid documentary stamp taxes on their supposed divestment from four of their construction firms,” Lumagui added.

Divested? Not quite, BIR says

The spouses had publicly claimed at Senate hearings in September that they had given up much of their ownership in companies allegedly involved in substandard and ghost flood control projects with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) since 2016.

The BIR, however, said that the Discayas remain the beneficial owners of four firms-St. Gerrard, St. Timothy, St. Matthew, and Alpha and Omega-which have big-ticket deals with government.

‘The Spouses Discaya never divested from St. Gerrard, St. Timothy, St. Matthew, and Alpha and Omega. The BIR has no record of any return or payment for such divestment,’ Lumagui said. “They never divested because they never paid the corresponding taxes necessary for such divestment.”

Not just P7.28 billion

The latest BIR filings represent “only the tip of the iceberg,” Lumagui said. He noted that the bureau’s audit of Discaya-owned construction firms could lead to more tax evasion cases.

‘Once we have finished our audit of the Discaya-owned construction firms, we expect findings of billions of tax deficiencies. Expect more cases to be filed,’ he said.

In a separate interview with reporters, Lumagui said that the agency’s auditing started last year before the flood control fund scandal broke out.

“Actually itong kaso na sinampa natin nagsimula tayo ng audit nito last year pa. Hinintay lang natin yung response ng iba’t ibang ahensya ng gobyerno para masigurado natin na makuha natin lahat ng impormasyon na kailangan para mabuo itong assessment na ginawa natin ngayon,’ Lumagui said. (“Actually, this case that we filed started with an audit last year. We just waited the response of different government agencies to make sure we get all the information needed to complete the assessment we made.”)

Other construction firms of the Discaya couple are also undergoing audit to determine its tax liabilities.

‘Ang nandito palang ay yung individual liabilities nila at St. Gerrard ang sinampa natin,’ he said. (“All that’s here are their individual liabilities at St. Gerrard, the basis for the case filed today.”)

This is just an ordinary part of the delisting process. HOUSE’s tender offer successfully sopped up the vast majority of the remaining public float, and now the company is in position to delist. If you are a HOUSE shareholder that did not participate in the tender offer, your shares are still good, and your shares will still be good once HOUSE officially delists in a few weeks’ time. Like when Metro Pacific Investments delisted, you’ll simply lose the ability to buy and sell your shares on the PSE’s stock trading system. You’ll still be entitled to dividends (if any) and to vote in any shareholder meetings; you’ll just have to privately transact if you plan to sell in the future. Speaking plainly, it’s a huge pain in the ass, and the prospect of that ass pain is one of the unspoken inducements to tender that companies bank on when they go through this process. It sucks for our tiny market to lose a company like this, but it’s an important check on the PSE’s value proposition for firms to be able to leave if they consider continued participation in the public market to be too high of an opportunity cost.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has deployed another tunnel boring machine into the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) to accelerate drilling activities from Camp Aguinaldo to Anonas.

The DOTr yesterday marked another milestone in its subway works, as it launched a new tunnel boring machine to excavate the segment between Camp Aguinaldo and Anonas.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the deployment of the machine would pick up the pace further in putting up the country’s first underground rail.

The machine is able to create a tunnel of nine meters per day. With the machine starting to dig in Camp Aguinaldo this October, it is scheduled to reach Anonas in at least six months.

Lopez said another tunnel boring machine is being assembled right now, and it would be deployed in Camp Aguinaldo in two months. Two machines were already done burrowing more than 1,000 meters of tunnel between Camp Aguinaldo and Ortigas.

The MMSP is now being tunneled by eight machines through multiple segments to the north of its alignment, particularly in Valenzuela, Quezon City and Pasig.

‘Additional tunnel boring machines mean less time for us to finish this project, and we intend to keep this pace up in building the subway,’ Lopez said.

‘President Marcos has directed us to accelerate the completion of our projects because the key to addressing the plight of commuters is in mass transit,’ he said.

The MMSP, costing P488.5 billion and co-financed by Japan, was supposed to be operational by 2029. However, the project dealt with right-of-way (ROW) delays, compelling the DOTr to push back its completion to 2032.

Recently, the DOTr has won over the ROW for the MMSP in gated village Corinthian Gardens. It was able to secure an alignment of 500 meters, covering 33 properties, and the agency is ready to issue compensation totaling P820.56 million.

As a result, the DOTr can begin drilling works in Corinthian Gardens by January 2026, marking another win for the subway on the posh side of Pasig and Quezon City.

The MMSP, the country’s first underground rail, spans 33 kilometers across 17 stations between Valenzuela and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

National University clawed out of an 11-point hole to drop the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 56-54, in their UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament matchup Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Bulldogs, who absorbed their first loss in the tournament in their last game against the University of the Philippines, dropped a massive 15-2 bomb late to grab the come-from-behind win.

Jake Figueroa spearheaded NU with 17 points, three assists, three steals, two blocks and two rebounds. Jolo Manansala and Gelo Santiago chipped in nine markers for NU, which rose to 4-1 this season.

‘Credit sa mga players, especially itong dalawa. Siyempre, actually, hindi lang sila. Grabe yung defense namin, kasi hindi kami makahulog e. Grabe yung shooting, field goal percentage namin,’ NU head coach Jeff Napa said.

‘At least, confidence lang to take the shot, to take the risk, hats off sa kanila and alam nilang binigay nila kahit anong nangyari. Players na yun, hindi na ako yun. Players na nagpanalo nun, it’s all their heart, it’s all their effort,’ he added.

The game was tight through the final minutes of the third quarter, with a split from the line by Mark Parks making it a one-point deficit, 38-39, with two minutes left in the frame.

But back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by AJ Fransman and Monty Montebon gave Adamson a commanding 48-38 advantage early in the fourth quarter.

Steve Nash Enriquez snapped the blitz with a triple of his own, but deuces by Matty Erolon and OJ Ojarikre gave the Soaring Falcons a 52-41 lead.

However, this turned out to be the only points of Adamson in the next four minutes as the Bulldogs bared their teeth both on offense and defense.

Eleven straight points by NU, capped by a Figueroa jumper, tied things up at 52-all with 2:26 remaining.

A short stab by Cedrick Manzano gave Adamson the lead anew, 54-52, but an and-one play by Figueroa pushed Adamson ahead for good, 55-54.

On the other end, Fransman had the chance to answer back, but his layup missed.

After a miss by Santiago in the next possession, Adamson had the chance to go for the win, but Figueroa stole the ball. He then sank a layup to put the cherry on top of NU’s comeback victory.

Manzano paced Adamson with 16 points and four rebounds, while Earl Medina had nine markers for the 1-4 Falcons.

NU shot 18-of-55 from the field good for 32.7%, compared to Adamson’s 33.3% shooting. However, the Bulldogs made 17 of their 24 free throws, compared to Adamson’s 10-of-13 clip.

Adamson will try to snap their three-game losing streak against the still-winless University of the East Red Warriors on Saturday at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City. On the other hand, the Sampaloc-based squad will take on the La Salle Green Archers on Sunday at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila.

Nearly half of the country’s teachers are handling subjects outside their field of specialization, a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) revealed.

According to the ‘Taught Off-Guard: When Specialization and Teaching Assignments Do Not Match,’ 43 percent of teachers are assigned to subjects for which they lack formal training or credentials.

Meanwhile, 32 percent are partially matched (handling both specialized and non-specialized subjects) while only 25 percent are teaching in full alignment with their academic background.

Mismatch refers to the practice of assigning teachers to disciplines for which they lack specialized credentials.

It is a global phenomenon that negatively affects teachers’ work, students’ learning and teachers’ well-being, confidence and self-efficacy, the study added.

To correct this, the study noted that recruitment policies must prioritize and enforce teacher-subject matching, supported by systemic reforms starting from pre-service teacher education.

It also stressed the importance of stronger collaboration between teacher education institutions, the DepEd and other agencies to ensure more responsive planning and sustainable teacher development.

‘Professional development programs should be expanded, optimized and made widely accessible to sustain teacher competence and close specialization gaps,’ the PIDS said.

Echoing the study’s findings, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) also reported that teacher-subject mismatch remains widespread, with 62 percent of public high school teachers assigned to teach outside their area of expertise.

The commission pointed to longstanding issues in DepEd’s hiring policies, which often prioritize teacher availability over subject-matter proficiency.

To address the issue, the study urged the Commission on Higher Education to enhance its quality assurance frameworks, conduct regular audits of teacher qualifications and invest in infrastructure aligned with curriculum demands – particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical-vocational fields.

Bonus release

In a separate development, the DepEd and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) jointly announced the approval and upcoming release of the 2023 Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) for qualified teaching and non-teaching personnel.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Harmonization of National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems (AO25 Task Force) endorsed DepEd’s eligibility.

According to the DBM, the department earned an 80-point score in the eligibility criteria, which made it qualified for the highest PBB rate of 52 percent of the monthly basic salary.

This rate reportedly marked a significant improvement from 45.5 percent in 2021 and 48.75 percent in 2022.

With the approval, a Teacher I, with a basic salary of P27,000, is now expected to receive around P14,040 for fiscal year 2023.

‘The approval of the 2023 PBB for DepEd workforce reflects our shared commitment to recognize the hard work and vital contributions of our educators to national development. With the strong support of President Marcos, we are ensuring that performance and dedication are rewarded accordingly,’ Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

DepEd will coordinate with DBM for the issuance of special allotment release orders and notices of cash allocation to ensure prompt disbursement of the bonuses.

Regional and division offices will be notified once funds are ready for release.

‘Our teachers and education personnel are the backbone of our nation’s future. This bonus is a testament to their unwavering dedication. We thank our partners in government for their continued support in uplifting the teaching profession,’ Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.

A bettor in Quezon City was the solo winner of the P223.5-million Grand Lotto 6/55 jackpot on Monday.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Melquiades Robles said the winner, who bought a ticket at a lotto outlet in Barangay Mariana, guessed the combination 21-27-51-19-14-53, which had a prize of P223,580,197.60. Twenty-six bettors won P100,000 each.