At yesterday’s launch of a public website designed to track flood control projects, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. disclosed that P100 billion worth of contracts—nearly 20% of his administration’s total flood control budget—had been awarded to just 15 contractors. The sheer concentration of these deals, he remarked, was “disturbing.”
The list of contractors reads like a roll call of industry titans: Legacy Construction Corporation, Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp., St. Timothy Construction Corporation, QM Builders, EGB Construction Corporation, Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc., Centerways Construction and Development Inc., Sunwest Inc., Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp., Triple 8 Construction & Supply Inc., Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp., Wawao Builders, MG Samidan Construction, L.R. Tiqui Builders Inc., and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
What’s more alarming, the Chief Executive disclosed, is that five of these firms—Legacy, Alpha & Omega, St. Timothy, EGB, and Road Edge—have projects in nearly every region nationwide. This geographic spread raises questions not just about scale, but about influence, access, and the mechanisms that allowed such dominance to go unchecked.
While the President stopped short of making direct accusations, his call to scrutinize these contractors was clear. “They stood out very much,” he said, urging a deeper look into how these entities came to control such a vast share of public infrastructure spending. The subtext was unmistakable: something is amiss.
Among the first to respond was Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, whose Facebook post, issued just over an hour after PBBM’s press con, was a masterclass in transparency and resolve. He confirmed that Alpha & Omega and St. Timothy—ranked second and third—are owned by the Discaya family, along with another firm, St. Gerrard. “Ngayon, unti-unti nang nalalaman ng taumbayan ang buong katotohanan,” he wrote, echoing the President’s SONA rebuke “Mahiya naman kayo!”
Mayor Sotto’s mention of the Discayas wasn’t incidental. In the May 2025 elections, he faced off against Sarah Discaya, a member of the same family behind the flagged firms. Despite their massive campaign spending and attempts to gain political ground, the Discayas lost in Pasig. Sotto’s remarks reflect not just administrative concern, but a direct encounter with the kind of political infiltration he warns about in his “six stages of corruption.”
He laid out those six stages with clarity:
- Procurement/Bidding – where collusion may already begin.
- Project Implementation – often substandard, or in some cases, purely imaginary.
- SOPs and Kickbacks – allegedly reaching over half the project cost.
- Tax Evasion – contractors failing to pay proper dues to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
- Business Tax Manipulation – declaring zero gross revenue to Local Government Units (LGUs) despite massive contracts.
- Political Infiltration – using stolen funds to gain public favor and enter politics.
Sotto committed to sending all red flags to the President and vowed to pursue legal action to recover millions—if not billions—in unpaid business taxes. “Makolekta lang natin ang utang nilang Business Tax sa LGU,” he said, “may pondo na ang Pasig para ipagawa ang Building para sa Judiciary at National Government Agencies nang wala na namang binabawasan mula sa ibang programa.”
This exposé, and the swift local response, mark a potential turning point. But the question remains: what comes next? Will agencies act with the same urgency? Will other LGUs follow Pasig’s lead? And will the contractors finally be held accountable?
We can only hope. Because for the long-suffering Filipino—flooded not just by water but by decades of systemic neglect—this moment demands more than outrage. It demands action. And it demands change. We deserve better.
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