In the Marcos home turf Ilocos Norte, the biggest flood control contractors are the companies of first-term Laoag City Mayor Bryan Alcid, and former Pasig mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya.

Data scraped from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website show that including its joint ventures, Alcid’s Megapolitan Builders and Construction Supply cornered a collective P1.8 billion in flood control contracts, or 18% of all flood control projects in the province, from 2022 to 2025. These were projects awarded by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Four Discaya-linked companies are among the top 10 Ilocos Norte flood contractors, but taken all together, they have collectively cornered P2.6 billion in flood control projects.

Megapolitan and the Discaya-linked companies had no joint ventures in Ilocos Norte.

The rest of the P10-billion worth flood contracts in the province from 2022 to 2025 were spread among 37 other contractors. Ilocos Norte is the 10th most flood-prone province in the Philippines, according to the country’s national adaptation plan.

The governor of Ilocos Norte has been a Marcos since 1971 except for 10 years from 1988 to 1998 during the term of Rodolfo “Rudy” Fariñas. In the 2022 elections, the Marcoses ousted the Fariñases from the First District when Sandro Marcos won his first term. Today, it’s a Marcos domination — a Marcos as governor, vice governor, first district and second district representatives, complete with Alcid as Laoag City mayor, whom the Marcoses endorsed.

Megapolitan of Mayor Bryan Alcid

Alcid won his first term as Laoag City mayor in the May 2025 midterm elections, edging out the President’s cousin, former mayor Michael Marcos Keon. Marcos Jr. and his family endorsed Alcid.

Conflict of interest is defined by at least four legal provisions — the 1987 Constitution, the anti-graft law, the code of conduct for public officials, and the Local Government Code. But almost all of them give a certain degree of leeway.

For example, Alcid was a city councilor from 2022 to 2025, during which Megapolitan won at least two DPWH flood mitigation contracts located in Laoag City. One is for a P9.7-million flood mitigation structure in Barangay Buttong, according to data on sumbongsapangulo.ph. The other is a P47-million flood mitigation structure in Barangay Cavit, which we personally saw in May (photo above) and which checks out with this contract on the DPWH website.

However, the Local Government Code only requires members of the Sanggunian (council) to disclose their financial interest which may result in conflict of interest. Mayors, on the other hand, including Alcid now, “are prohibited from practicing their profession or engaging in any occupation other than the exercise of their functions as local chief executives,” according to the code.

On June 4, 2025, when Alcid had already been elected as mayor but still had not officially taken office yet, he signed as “authorized managing officer” for two multi-purpose buildings at the Batac campus of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), worth a combined P52 million, according to copies of the contracts.

Rappler has been trying to reach Alcid since August 27 to ask him how he can ensure there’s no conflict of interest as far as Megapolitan’s contracts are concerned. Our latest followup was Monday, September 1, via text and call, but we have not been able to hear back from him. We were able to speak with Laoag City’s information officer on August 28 and 29 to ensure our message had been relayed. We will update this story with Alcid’s statement once we receive it.

Alcid told Rappler during the May 2025 midterms campaign that he is a “law-abiding citizen” who follows “safeguards.” The anti-graft law prohibits having business interests in a contract that “he takes part [of] in his official capacity.” Public officials who own, or whose families own, construction companies have reasoned that it’s not them — but the DPWH — who awarded the contracts.

 “Wala naman akong mga kaso. Kahit tingnan ‘yung track record ko. Wala pa akong kaso. Kahit ano,” Alcid told Rappler in an interview on May 6. (I am a law-abiding citizen. There are no charges against me. Even if you look at my track record, I have no charges, not anything.)

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The Discayas

After Megapolitan, the companies St. Matthew, St. Gerrard, Alpha & Omega, and St. Timothy also won big flood contracts worth hundreds of millions pesos in Ilocos Norte.

The four companies are either currently co-owned or previously co-owned by Sarah Discaya and family. Discaya ran for mayor of Pasig City in the May 2025 midterm elections, but lost to third-termer Mayor Vico Sotto.

Collectively, the four companies cornered P2.65 billion worth of flood contracts in Ilocos Norte.

The Discayas are under scrutiny for showing off their mansion and luxury cars in interviews with media personalities, and even said in one vlog that their fortunes radically changed when they started having business with the DPWH.

The Discayas’ son Matthew Carl Discaya owns 95% of St. Matthew, Sarah’s husband Pacifico II or “Curlee” owns 96% of St. Gerrard, and Sarah owns 96% of Alpha & Omega, according to the 2024 general information sheets of the three companies.

Sarah and Curlee were shareholders of St. Timothy, at least up until 2018, according to that year’s amended incorporation records. The Discaya couple said they divested in 2018, and had no more ties to it when St. Timothy initially partnered with South Korean firm Miru to provide the machines for the 2025 automated elections. St. Timothy eventually withdrew from the joint venture after controversies. St. Timothy is now owned on paper by Ma. Roma Angeline D. Rimando, who is the Discayas’ niece.

Excluding St. Timothy’s contracts, the three companies currently owned by the Discayas still cornered P1.5 billion worth of flood contracts.

Sarah Discaya’s Alpha & Omega is the second biggest flood contractor in the entire country, while St. Timothy is the third biggest. Marcos said it was “disturbing” that 15 companies — which include Alpha & Omega — cornered 20% of the P545 billion worth of flood control projects in the country in the last three years.

Sarah Discaya faced the Senate on Monday, September 1, and said “we have been in the construction business for 23 years, and I would presume that in the 23 years, puwede naman kami kumita (we can earn).”

Discaya said their business boomed when they started getting DWPH contracts, as compared to their previous contracts with local governments because, as she said, “ang hirap makasingil sa local government (it’s hard to collect from local governments).” – Rappler.com