Bulacan 6th District Rep. Salvador Pleyto has denied insinuations of him allegedly receiving money from contractor-couple Pacifico ‘Curlee’ Discaya and Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya, asking the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to release the supposed reports.
Pleyto was reacting to a recent interview made by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, wherein the lawmaker was named as one of the alleged politicians and personalities who received money from the Discayas, according to AMLC’s reports.
‘It has come to my attention the recent interview of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla citing an AMLC report that allegedly linking my name as one of the individuals who received ‘remittances’ from the Discayas prior to me being elected as congressman,’ Pleyto said over the weekend.
‘I strongly condemn these accusations and insinuations against me. In the interest of truth, accountability and due process,’ he noted.
‘I am formally requesting the AMLC to provide an official copy of the said report or any related document which my name was mentioned or implicated, in order for me to properly and responsibly address any findings or insinuations made therein,’ he added.
According to Pleyto, he is ready to ‘cooperate with the AMLC or any other competent authorities to ensure that the truth will come out,’ for him to clear his name.
‘Until such time that I have a copy of the official report from the AMLC, I urge the public to refrain from drawing conclusions or spreading unverified information that may cause undue harm to my personal reputation, both as a private person and a public servant,’ he said.
Pleyto’s name was mentioned by Remulla last Thursday, when he tagged Benguet lone district Rep. Eric Yap as the ‘person of interest’ behind a construction firm involved in the complaint filed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over anomalous flood control projects in La Union.
The DPWH’s complaints were made by Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon – for malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents against DPWH officials, Silverwolves Construction Corporation, and St. Timothy Corporation – for separate flood control projects in the two provinces.
‘For Silverwolves Construction Corporation, the person of interest here is Congressman Eric Yap, who is known to be the beneficial owner of the company,’ Remulla said in a press conference.
‘He divested from it a few years ago, supposedly. But there’s still reason to suspect that he’s still the beneficial owner of the company, so there’s clear conflict of interest punishable also under RA [Republic Act] 3019,’ Remulla explained.
Remulla then said that they found out through the AMLC that the Discayas allegedly sent money to ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Edvic Yap, brother of Eric, around 2019 or 2020. After this, they tagged Pleyto.
‘We received a transmission of money from AMLC that went to Edvic Yap so we saw the pattern. They have something to do with the contracts because we saw the transmission of money from the Discayas,’ Remulla pointed out.
‘The other one was not yet a congressman but a congressman now. The other one is Salvador Pleyto, congressman from Bulacan. He is one of those tagged by the AMLC as recipients of the Discayas’ remittance,’ he said.
The highlight on anomalous infrastructure projects came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his fourth State of the Nation Address, condemned government officials and contractors who allegedly earned kickbacks, adding that they should be ashamed of themselves.
Eventually, Marcos released a list of contractors, and observers were quick to establish links between contractors and lawmakers and other politicians like Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, Senate President Francis Escudero and Sarah Discaya, who previously sought Pasig City’s mayoral post.
The Discaya couple eventually appeared before the Senate and admitted that they paid off several lawmakers just for projects to be implemented.
Due to their testimonies, both Curlee’ and Sarah Discaya were considered as ‘protected witnesses’ by the Department of Justice – back when Remulla was still leading the agency.
But on Monday, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said that there is no chance that the Discayas will qualify as state witnesses with the magnitude of their alleged involvement in the infrastructure project corruption scheme.