PASAY CITY – In a dramatic turn amid the escalating flood control corruption probe, controversial contractor Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya voluntarily surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, just hours before an anticipated arrest warrant could be issued against her for graft and malversation charges tied to a P96.5-million “ghost” project in Davao Occidental. Accompanied by her legal counsel, Discaya’s move – alongside the surrender of co-respondent Ma. Roma Angeline Rimando to the Pasig City police – signals a potential easing of tensions in a scandal that’s ensnared lawmakers, officials, and builders, leaving communities vulnerable to typhoons while billions vanish into thin air.
Discaya, whose firm St. Timothy Construction has been a lightning rod in the P20-billion graft storm, walked into the NBI headquarters with poise, her spokesperson Cornelio Samaniego III framing the act as a testament to transparency. “She respects legal processes,” Samaniego told reporters, adding that Discaya chose the NBI “to demonstrate that she’s not hiding anything.” The surrender follows the Office of the Ombudsman’s filing of charges last week at the Regional Trial Court of Digos City, accusing Discaya and others of malversation through falsification and violations of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). The Ombudsman recommended no bail, underscoring the gravity of the alleged scheme where a flood mitigation project in Barangay Culaman, Jose Abad Santos, was declared completed and fully paid in 2022 despite zero work on the ground.
Her husband, Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II, remains in Senate detention, cited for contempt after allegedly lying during a blue ribbon committee hearing on the scandal. Meanwhile, eight Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials from Davao Occidental fired off a letter to the NBI, signaling their intent to surrender – a ripple of accountability in a probe that’s already cuffed nine suspects and left seven at large, including fugitive ex-Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who last week vowed arrests “before Christmas,” had flagged Discaya’s warrant as imminent: “We’re expecting that… it won’t be long before she’s arrested.” The surrender could play as a mitigating factor under the Revised Penal Code if deemed in good faith, potentially influencing bail or sentencing. But in a saga riddled with ghost dikes, kickback kings, and subpar scams, Discaya’s step forward feels like a fragile foothold on a slippery slope – a bid for leniency in a flood of fury where justice demands not just cuffs, but closure for the communities still mopping up from Typhoon Uwan’s unchecked wrath.
For the Discayas – once flaunting fleets of luxury rides in viral vlogs that fueled the scandal’s fire – this NBI nod isn’t surrender; it’s strategy, a calculated play in a trillion-peso tragedy that’s sparked the Trillion Peso March and toppled trusts. As warrants whisper of yuletide yanks, one truth tolls: In the graft grapple’s gathering storm, no voluntary veil can quench the quest for the full deluge of reckoning.
Case Snapshot:
| Suspect | Status | Charges |
|---|---|---|
| Sarah Discaya | Surrendered to NBI | Graft, malversation (no bail) |
| Ma. Roma Angeline Rimando | Surrendered to Pasig Police | Same as above |
| Curlee Discaya II | Senate detention (contempt) | Related to scandal testimony |
| 8 DPWH Officials | Letter of intent to surrender | Awaiting warrants |