Cebu court grants Sarah Discaya bail, but another warrant keeps her in detention

CEBU, Philippines – The 27th branch of the Regional Trial Court in Lapu-Lapu City has granted government contractor Sarah Discaya a P1-million bail in a malversation case linked to an alleged P96.5-million ghost project in Davao Occidental, but she will still likely remain in detention.

This is so because Discaya is facing another standing arrest warrant from the Malolos City, Bulacan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 20 over a non-bailable malversation case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman. Investigators found payments for a P53.9-million flood control project in Calumpit, Bulacan, were released without an approved disbursement voucher.

Investigators also found that the government paid the Discaya’s St. Timothy Construction Corporation for dredging and embankment without a basis for the computation or documentation for the project.

Judge Nelson Leyco, in a resolution issued on July 7, ruled that the prosecution failed to establish strong evidence of her participation in the act of misusing funds or conspiring with her co-accused.

“In this case, no prosecution witness was able to testify regarding Discaya’s participation in respect of the flood control project in question,” the judge ruled.

The court also granted a P300,000 bail for co-accused Czar Ryan Ubungen, the DPWH Davao Occidental DEO Finance Section chief, as his signatures in disbursement vouchers were found to be not strong enough to implicate him in the alleged conspiracy.

But Leyco also ruled that the prosecution was able to sufficiently establish that the Davao Occidental project was indeed a ghost project.

Evidence showed that accused officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) District Engineering Office in Malita, Davao Occidental, allegedly conspired to construct a concrete revetment along the Culaman River in Jose Abad Santos in 2025 to cover up the fact that it had not been built when it was certified as completed in 2022.

The evidence presented include an allegedly anomalous statement of work accomplishment that tallied a project accomplishment rate of 30.65% in only four days, the physical absence of the project at the approved starting point, and inconsistencies in the as-staked plan and the detailed engineering design plan. – Rappler.com