Embattled contractor Pacifico Discaya II, also known as “Curlee,” said he felt he was being “robbed” by the requirement to restitute money to the government to qualify for the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program (WPP). Discaya made the remark during a heated exchange between Senator Rodante Marcoleta and Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon at a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. During the hearing, Marcoleta asked Discaya what the DOJ had told him before he and his wife, Sarah, could be admitted into the WPP. “If we have to return a certain amount first… I cannot say how much because for me, it feels like we are the ones being robbed,” Discaya said. He also dismissed as “lies” the DOJ’s immediate requirement to return ill-gotten wealth. “Before making such claims, it is necessary to first see what Mr. and Mrs. Discaya can and are willing to prove in their statements,” Fadullon said, adding that the couple’s lack of coordination with the DOJ prevented their application from being processed and from receiving protection. Marcoleta has repeatedly questioned the DOJ’s stance that applicants to the WPP must first return illegally acquired wealth to the state before being admitted. Sarah Discaya was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation on December 18 after a court issued a warrant against her for corruption and malversation in connection with the alleged P96.5-million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental. Curlee Discaya, meanwhile, remains detained at the Senate after being cited in contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee during a September 18 hearing on anomalous flood control projects. He likened the requirement to “modern-day robbery,” saying it appeared as if those being accused were the ones being asked to pay. The Discaya couple were previously considered “protected witnesses” under the WPP but later stopped cooperating with the DOJ. Fadullon said the Discayas had named personalities allegedly linked to anomalous flood control projects, but these claims were not supported by additional evidence.
