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Curlee and Sarah Discaya
Filipino businesspeople (born 1975 and 1976) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II (born May 15, 1975) and Cezarah Rowena "Sarah" Cruz Discaya (born November 10, 1976) are Filipino businesspeople and politicians. The married couple are associated with the construction firms Alpha and Omega Construction and St. Gerrard Construction Corporation, which were labeled as among the top proprietors for various flood control projects under Rodrigo Duterte and Bongbong Marcos administrations.
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Sarah Discaya was also a mayoral candidate in the 2025 Pasig local elections, where she lost to incumbent mayor Vico Sotto.
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Early lives and education
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Sarah Discaya
Sarah Discaya was born on November 10, 1976, in London, England. Her parents are both overseas Filipino workers;[3][4][5] her mother worked as a chambermaid, while her father was a waiter.[6] In a 2025 Senate inquiry, Discaya described her Filipino father as being a "contractor before for LGU".[7] She professed that she lived a middle-class life in the United Kingdom.[8]
A Vera Files column claimed that Discaya was born out of wedlock to a Filipino-British father. The "Cruz" in Sarah Discaya's name was her Filipino stepfather's surname. The same column claimed that Liza is her maternal half-sister.[9][10]
Discaya accomplished her primary and secondary education in London then moved to the Philippines to pursue tertiary education. She pursued a business administration degree at the La Consolacion College Pasig for two years before earning her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Management of Service Institution degree at the Pasig Catholic College.[6][11] She later worked as a dental clinic receptionist and as an orthodontic nurse.[12][13]
Sarah Discaya also had a brief stint in the entertainment industry, working alongside Nora Aunor before she was asked to stop by her mother.[8]
Curlee Discaya
Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II, the eventual husband of Sarah, was born on May 15, 1975. Curlee is one of two twins both named Pacifico Discaya. According to Sarah Discaya from the Korina Interviews interview in January 2024, Pacifico "Butch" Discaya I died in 2006 in a subdivision dispute. He spent time in the church during his childhood doing custodial work to support his studies. He says he is the only college graduate in his immediate family, studying at the Pasig Catholic College where he met his eventual wife Sarah.[14]
Curlee Discaya once considered priesthood, but eventually became a contractor who works with the government due to financial and pragmatic reasons.[14]
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Business careers
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Curlee and Sarah Discaya are noted for their involvement in the construction industry.[15]
The Discayas owns or had owned the following companies:[16][17]
- Alpha and Omega Construction Gen. Contractor and Development Corporation
- St. Timothy Construction
- St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corporation
- Elite General Contractor and Development Corporation
- St. Matthew General Contractor & Development Corporation
- Great Pacific Builders and General Contractor
- YPR General Contractor and Construction Supply
- Amethyst Horizon Builders and General Contractor & Dev’t Corp.
- Way Maker OPC
St. Gerrard Construction Corporation is a construction firm founded in 2003 and named after their eldest son.[18] The company was awarded several large-scale infrastructure projects during President Rodrigo Duterte's administration and became one of the most prominent contractors of the period. They started engaging in flood control projects in 2016.[13][15] They continued securing projects during the President Bongbong Marcos administration. From 2022 to 2025, the Discayas' companies bagged ₱31 billion worth of flood control projects.[19]
The Discayas' companies was put onto spotlight when President Marcos flagged the top flood control contractors for possible irregularities during his 4th State of the Nation Address.[20]
Apart from construction, Sarah Discaya has served as a local director for the Pasig branch of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant franchise since 2024. The organization's president, Shamcey Supsup, unsuccessfully ran for councilor of Pasig initially under Discaya's slate in the 2025 elections.[21]
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Sarah Discaya's 2025 Pasig mayoral campaign
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In August 2024, Sarah Discaya joined the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of President Bongbong Marcos in the lead up to the official filing period of certificate of candidacies (COCs) for the 2025 mid-term elections.[2]
However, in October 2024, Discaya formally filed her COC for the 2025 Pasig mayoral election under the Unyon ng mga Gabay ng Bayan (UGB) party.[22][23] Discaya stated that she was "provoked" by incumbent mayor Vico Sotto to run for mayor, alleging that her family had been subjected to defamation since Sotto became mayor in 2019. She further claimed that Sotto had hindered the operations of her business and attacked her family as a means of discrediting the Eusebio political clan.[22]
In response, Sotto claimed that St. Gerrard Construction Corporation had funded a social media misinformation campaign against his administration.[22] He also raised a potential conflict of interest, noting that Discaya's company, St. Timothy, had entered into an agreement with the Commission on Elections for the 2025 midterm elections.[24] Although St. Timothy later withdrew from the agreement, Discaya claimed that she had divested her shares in the company back in 2018.[17]
During the election campaign, Discaya promised a "government with a heart" and to transform Pasig into a "smart city".[25] She also pledged to implement various infrastructure projects for education, health, transportation, firefighting, housing, and internet-connectivity.[7]
Despite her heavily financed campaign, she lost by a wide margin, garnering only 29,591 votes against Sotto's 351,392.[15]
Her campaign was marked by various controversies linked to blacklisting issues tied to her company and a heavy reliance on paid vloggers for campaign promotion.[15][26] Discaya's possession of a British passport raised questions about her eligibility to run for office. Her legal counsel maintained, however, that she was qualified as a dual citizen by birth and had not subsequently acquired British citizenship.[4][27]
Aftermath
Shortly after the flood control projects controversy arose in August 2025, Pasig mayor Vico Sotto brought attention to various interviews that Curlee and Sarah Discaya had with journalists Julius Babao and Korina Sanchez featuring the Discayas' "rags to riches" story released prior to March 28, 2025, the start of the official campaign period for the 2025 elections.[28][29][30] Sotto alleged that the Discayas paid for the interview, which raised several discussion online on journalism ethics on social media.[28] Some of the luxury vehicles featured in the interviews got seized by the Bureau of Customs and protesters defaced the headquarters of St. Gerrard due to corruption allegations.[31]
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Personal lives
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Curlee and Sarah Discaya are a married couple.[14] The two first met as classmates at Pasig Catholic College. The had a civil ceremony in 2003 and later a church wedding in 2016.[14] They have three sons and a daughter.[32] Their son, Pacifico Felizario Discaya II was a nominee of Ako Pinoy Partylist in the 2025 election.[33][34][35]
A September 2025 Vera Files column claimed that Sarah is the niece of former Pasig Mayor Vicente Eusebio, whose family administered the city from 1992 to 2019, as her mother is Eusebio's half-sister. In turn, she is also alleged as a first cousin of former Pasig Mayor Robert Eusebio and former Pasig Representative Richard Eusebio.[9][10] She had previously dismissed allegations of her family being related to the Eusebios before stating that it is a tactic by political opponents.[36]
Luxury car collection
The couple has a collection of 40 luxury vehicles, which was featured in Julius Babao's interview in September 2024.[37] The Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced on August 28, 2025 that it would launch an investigation into the collection to determine if appropriate fees were paid.[38][39][40]
The BOC executed a search warrant on September 2, 2025 acquiring custody over 12 vehicles.[41][42][43] By September 4, 16 vehicles were surrendered to the BOC by the Discayas.[44]
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See also
References
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