Contractor couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya will no longer cooperate with the investigation into the flood control mess of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said this in a press conference on Wednesday, October 15, after the contractor couple attended the commission’s hearing for the third time.
‘Upon the advice of their counsel, they invoked their right to self-incrimination and manifested that they will no longer cooperate with the investigation being conducted by the ICI,’ Hosaka said.
According to Hosaka, the Discayas ‘explained that they were thinking that when they cooperate with the ICI, they will be getting a favorable recommendation from the commission as state witnesses.’
Meanwhile, the contractor mentioned a recent interview of journalist Karen Davila with ICI member and former Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio ‘Babes’ Singson, where the issue of the commission’s recommendation of state witnesses was being discussed.
‘As far as they’re concerned, I believe that they said that there was a statement by Commissioner Singson regarding his own personal take, in his opinion that as of now, he sees no witness or no person who may be recommended by the commission as state witness,’ Hosaka said mostly in Filipino.
‘However, I believe, and I saw the interview, that he qualified that as his and not by the commission,’ the ICI executive director pointed out.
‘So because of that, they are now saying that they will no longer appear before the commission and cooperate,’ he added.
Despite this, Hosaka said they will still use the evidence, testimonies, and affidavits of the contractor couple in the past hearings they attended before the commission.
Curlee, who is currently under the Senate’s custody, on Wednesday first entered the ICI office at around 12:50 p.m.
Meanwhile, Sarah-apparently avoiding the media-used the backdoor to enter the commission’s office at around 12:55 p.m.
The ICI earlier said in a Viber message to reporters that the ICI hearing is scheduled at 1 p.m.
After the hearing, the contractor couple’s legal counsel, lawyer Cornelio Samaniego III, refused to answer the queries of the media. ‘No comment muna,’ Samaniego said, adding that they will set a press conference for this. He, meanwhile, did not elaborate about the date of the said press conference.
The hearing this Wednesday is the third time the Discayas will be resource persons at the ICI hearing.
They appeared before the commission on September 30 and October 7.
During the first hearing of the Discayas on September 30, Samaniego said that they were ‘tell-all’ on the queries of the ICI.
‘About money, about the particular persons mentioned in the affidavit, what the transaction is, what the history is.. we were ‘tell-all’ [during the probe],’ Samaniego said on September 30.
‘There is no turning back here,’ he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the contractor couple on October 7 requested to postpone their hearing to allow them more time to collect certain documents. ‘They were asking for time for them to retrieve certain documents [that] the commission requested,’ Hosaka said.
‘Other state witnesses’
Even though the Discayas will no longer cooperate on the investigation, Hosaka said the commission still has other state witnesses that would build their cases.
‘Whatever other witnesses say will be sufficient enough for us to continue our investigation, build our cases, and file the necessary recommendations with the Ombudsman. We will also have sources of information and evidence for us to build our case,’ he said in Filipino.
‘We have a lot of information to gather. In fact, there are a lot of people testifying,’ he added.
Hosaka said the ICI will piece all the testimonies together so they can see what really happened on the flood control issues and can provide personalities to recommend on the filing of cases.
‘Definitely, we will get to the bottom of this; we will continue our investigation so we can find out who is really guilty,’ said Hosaka. /jpv