THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) formally served the arrest warrant against contractor Sarah Discaya, who is being linked to ghost flood control projects in various parts of the country, on Thursday evening, December 18, 2025.
Discaya, owner of St. Timothy Construction who surrendered to the NBI on December 9 in anticipation to the issuance of arrest warrant against her in relation to the anomalous P96.5-million “ghost” flood control project in Davao Occidental, underwent booking procedures, which include mugshot and fingerprinting.
She was also made to wear a yellow shirt with a “detainee” marking.
Discaya was transferred to the NBI detention facility in Muntinlupa after getting processed.
Meanwhile, the police also arrested the president of St. Timothy Construction, Maria Roma Rimando, who is a relative of Discaya’s husband, Curlee.
Rimando was detained at the Pasig City Police custodial facility.
On December 8, Rimando voluntarily surrendered to the Pasig City police.
On December 5, the Office of the Ombudsman filed criminal charges before the Digos Regional Trial Court against several Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, along with Discaya and several others, over the anomalous P96.5 million “ghost” flood control project in Davao Occidental.
Among those charged were DPWH Davao Occidental district engineer Rodrigo Larete, assistant district engineer Michael P. Awa, and several section chiefs, projects engineers and inspectors.
The charges have since been transferred to the Lapu-Lapu Regional Trial Court.
The project was declared completed and fully paid in 2022 but upon the inspection of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in September 2025, it was found to be non-existent.
The Discayas own two of the 15 construction firms that cornered the most number of flood control projects from the government from 2022 to 2025.
Over the past three years, Discaya firms bagged around P31 billion worth of government infrastructure contracts, including flood control projects.
They earlier surrendered their millions worth of luxury vehicles to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
The BOC sold in auction five of Discayas’ luxury cars amounting to nearly P50 million. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)