Witnesses point to Discaya as contractor of alleged Romualdez property

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January 20, 2026 | 2:09pm

MANILA, Philippines — Witnesses have linked contractor Curlee Discaya to being the contractor for one of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s homes.

In a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Monday, January 28, two masked witnesses using the pseudonyms “Maria” and “Joy” introduced themselves as staff members of a certain “Ricco Ocampo.” The two said they were working at 30 Tamarind, South Forbes when they were notified that they were being evicted in January 2024.

However, due to the volume of items that needed to be moved out, they asked for an extension of their stay to allow them to remove their belongings.

By February 2024, they were briefly introduced to the new contractor of the home, a man they would later recognize as Discaya.

The two witnesses said that Discaya was adamant about moving the old business out of the house, mentioning that it was “Romualdez” who bought the house.

Maria and Joy were asked by Blue Ribbon Committee chair Sen. Ping Lacson to physically identify the contractor they spoke to in the room. The two then stood up and pointed to Discaya.

“Both of you are identifying that he was the one who faced you and said that the owner of the house is Speaker Romualdez and you need to leave?” Lacson asked.

The two witnesses answered in the affirmative.

Discaya then asked if the two witnesses could remove their masks so he could identify them, a request that Lacson denied. The senator said that Discaya was not in a position to request witnesses to divulge their identities.

“I do not remember any transaction,” Discaya said, denying the witnesses’ claims.

Should the witnesses’ claims be proven, this would be the first time the Discayas have been concretely linked to Romualdez.

A statement from Romualdez’s lawyer called the claims “logically and physically impossible.”

“The claims come solely from the staff of an evicted tenant, unsupported by any document, while Martin Romualdez's name appears in no deed, contract, or payment record related to the property. There is no evidence—only hearsay and possibly perjured statements —and therefore nothing to answer,” lawyer Ade Fajardo said in a statement. —with reports from Dominique Flores