From London chambermaid to 28 luxury cars: Filipina contractor Sarah Discaya’s fiery saga

Manila: On the face of it, her story looks like a classic rag-to-riches tale.

Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, born in 1976, and having humble beginnings, now sits at the centre of the firestorm over government contracts. 

Her lifestyle, the possession of up to 28 luxury cars including a Rolls Royce Cullinan, Bentley and Mercedes Benz G60, has provoked public outrage over apparent wealth accumulation amidst ongoing government scrutiny. 

In a previous interview with a local reporter, Sarah said they own 40 luxury cars.

Among their vehicles are:

She's among the top contractors who cornered billions of pesos worth of contracts grilled during a recent Philippine Senate hearing.

The other contractors who were no-shows at the hearing could now face an arrest warrant.

As for the Discaya couple, Pacifico “Curlee” II and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), has tagged them as "flood control royalty".

The PCIJ unearthed documents showing that in just 3 years, from 2022 to 2025 along, companies and joint ventures under the Discayas' control bagged ₱31 billion ($540 million) worth of flood control projects.

Sarah’s backstory reads like a soap opera that took a sudden turn into a political thriller.

Born in London to a Filipina chambermaid and her British employer, Sarah’s early life was more “Downton Abbey downstairs” than horses and castles. 

Alongside her sister Liza, she carried the surname of their Filipino stepdad, Cruz, and hustled through humble jobs — Liza in a dental clinic, Sarah reportedly scrubbing homes — just trying to stay afloat in pricey London.

Then 9/11 struck: Forced back to the Philippines, the sisters returned to Pasig, where Sarah soon met Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya. 

Married life wasn’t exactly glamorous — they bunked at her mother’s house because they couldn’t afford their own roof.

Turns out Sarah’s mom was half-sister to then-Pasig Mayor Vicente “Enteng” Eusebio.

Encle Enteng served from 1980 to 1986 as Pasig vice mayor, then mayor from 1992 to 2001. His wife Soledad C. Eusebio succeeded him from 2001 to 2004.

When “Uncle Enteng” came back as mayor (2004–2007), the broke couple reportedly suddenly struck gold: juicy government construction projects. 

As columnist Antonio Montalvan II quipped, the Discayas went from “jobless to Class A contractors” practically overnight. 

Whether the seed money came from Uncle Enteng’s alleged stash — or because the firm was a family front — remains the multi-billion-peso question.

The gravy train kept rolling under Enteng’s son, Robert "Bobby" Cruz Eusebio (born June 7, 1968), also known by his initials BCE, an architect and a politician who served as the mayor of Pasig from 2007 to 2013 and from 2016 until 2019.

To keep city biddings looking legit, the Discayas allegedly spun up a web of construction companies, all under family control.

That network later ballooned beyond Pasig, bagging billions in flood control deals.

And yet — plot twist — Sarah has since disowned the Eusebios, calling them “corrupt” in a recent interview. 

Montalvan isn’t buying it. To him, her failed 2025 mayoral run in Pasig wasn’t just ambition — it was a bid to pull the city back into the Eusebio orbit.

Despite her humble background, she and her husband expanded their reach into one of the most lucrative government infrastructure sectors under the Duterte and Marcos administrations. 

The companies are all part of the family’s portfolio, collectively winning thousands of projects worth billions of pesos.

Local media reported that companies include:

The projects include flood control, roads, and building construction, mainly in remote areas.

Key figures in this saga include Sarah Discaya herself, often tagged as the primary owner or controller of most of these firms, as well as her husband Pacifico.

Their son, Gerrard William Francisco C. Discaya, is the reported owner of Waymaker General Contractor. Other relatives or trusted associates serve as nominal owners or executives in these companies. 

This setup, critics argue, is designed to create an illusion of multiple competitors while in reality, the family directly controls around 90% of the capital in these firms, cornering government contracts without genuine open competition.

The controversy escalated after national attention was drawn to the family when President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr flagged the top flood control contractors for possible irregularities during his fourth State of the Nation Address.

The Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) has since initiated investigations into the family’s companies for alleged violations of the Philippine Contractors License Law and the New Government Procurement Act.

The allegations include undisclosed beneficial ownership and collusive bidding, which could lead to the revocation of their licenses and further legal penalties.

As for the Discayas’ luxury vehicles, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has reportedly secured these luxury vehicles under court orders as part of the investigation into possible illicit wealth. 

What’s next for the Discaya family remains uncertain. 

The PCAB is poised to take "action" that could include license revocation of the nine construction firms owned or controlled by the family. 

There are growing calls from media and civic groups for the permanent delisting of all their construction firms from government projects and filing of plunder charges.

Given Discaya’s status as a dual citizen (Filipino-British), concerns about potential flight risk and asset protection have also surfaced.

In politics, Sarah’s  recent unsuccessful run for Pasig City mayor seems to have been partly an effort to consolidate local political power, which critics link to the family's expansion of their infrastructure business empire via local government contracts. However, public backlash could affect any such ambitions going forward.

The Discaya family, like other contracts behind ghost or substandard flood-control projects, stands at a critical juncture.

As public frustration mounts amid investigations into government procurement irregularities, accusations of monopolistic control of state contracts through multiple shell companies, and questions about unexplained wealth accumulation. 

On Wedneday, the PCAB has announced the revocation of licences of 9 construction firms owned or controlled by Discaya.

The government's next steps could focus on cleaning up the ranks of the Department of Public Works and Highways, shaking up the Philippine Contractors Certification Board, legal action and asset recovery.

These will be decisive in shaping the outcome and signalling the state’s resolve to address corruption in public infrastructure projects.