Sarah Discaya's finger heart taken as 'sign of insincerity, complacency'—DOJ
The Department of Justice has called out Sarah Discaya's behavior after she flashed a finger heart gesture at reporters during her Sept. 27 appearance before the agency.
Members of the press on Saturday asked Discaya how she was doing. Instead of responding with words, she just showed them a finger heart, a popular gesture in South Korea, as she entered the DOJ premises.
In another video three hours later, the contractor was again asked about how it all went. She said, "Gandahan niyo 'yung memes ko," as she entered her vehicle.
"The heart sign and the remarks of Ms. Sarah Discaya are all taken into account in the assessment and evaluation of the persons involved," DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano told reporters on Sept. 28.
"It is a sign of insincerity and complacency. We urge all persons of interest in this case to behave accordingly."
Discaya and her husband Curlee Discaya were at the DOJ for the case buildup involving the alleged anomalous flood projects.
On Sept. 24, the DOJ made Discayas and former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza protected witnesses amid the probe.
DOJ Secretary Crispin Remulla clarified that there is a distinction between a protected and a state witness.
"Pwede na rin silang (Discayas) protected witnesses," Remulla said. "Pero yung state witness na status kasi, we are very careful about that. It takes a lot of doing to declare a person as a state witness. Because you're freeing them completely from criminal liability."
"Ang protected witness kasi, kaya ginawa ang witness protection program, para ang mga testigo sa mga kaso ay hindi masaktan at hindi pagtangkaan ang buhay, kaya iyan ay isang katungkulan na aming tinutupad,” he continued.
The Discaya couple's Saturday meeting with DOJ also comes after the agency released a list of individuals to undergo "case build-up" in connection with the alleged flood control corruption.
Among those included are Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, senators Chiz Escudero, Joel Villaneuva, and Jinggoy Estrada, former senator Bong Revilla, Undersecretar Mitch Cajayon-Uy, Maynard Ngu, Carleen Villa, former undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, John Carlo Rivera, Linda Victoria Macanas, Juanito Mendoza, Sally Santos, Jesse Mahusay, a certain "Mina," "Beng Ramos," "Andre Balatbat," and DPWH engineers Hernandez, Mendoza, Alcantara, and Arjay Domasig.
The couple is among the 15 contractors who secured 20% of all flood control projects worth P100 billion over the last three years.
They were thrown into the spotlight when Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, whom Sarah unsuccessfully ran against in the midterm elections, posted about their controversial interviews with Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao.
After Sotto's posting, the couple's story unraveled and opened a can of worms. It led to flood control projects being the talk of the town, a Bureau of Customs chase, revocation of the Discaya companies' licenses, and congressional hearings.
