Headlines

Customs serves search warrant for Discayas' 12 luxury cars, most missing

September 2, 2025 | 11:42am

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has served a search warrant to the Discayas at St. Gerrard General Contractor and Development Corp.’s headquarters in Pasig City.

This comes after the BOC attempted to serve the search warrant Monday night but was refused entry into the firm’s premises.

“Kagabi ho… dalawang beses namin triny i-serve. Isa hong alas nuwebe ng gabi and isa ho alas diyes ng gabi. Parehas po we were refused to enter the premises,” BOC chief of staff Jek Casipit said over True FM on Tuesday, September 2.

(Last night, we tried to serve it twice. One around 9 p.m. last night and another around 10 p.m. Both times we were refused to enter the premises.)

It was only on Tuesday morning that the BOC was allowed to enter the property without any resistance. So far, Casipit said, the BOC has only been able to trace two of the 12 cars slated for inspection.

The search warrant covers the inspection of businesswoman and former Pasig mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya’s luxury cars, initially reported to number around 40.

Questionable luxury cars?

After the government’s flood control probe linked the Discayas to top contractors that secured billions worth of projects, the BOC moved to check whether the family’s high-end cars were legally imported, properly registered and had the required duties and taxes paid.

The luxury vehicles are kept in a warehouse inside St. Gerrard Corp.’s headquarters.

While Curlee Discaya earlier claimed they owned as many as 40 luxury cars, his wife Sarah, told senators on Monday that the number is only 28, adding that the rest are service vehicles for their construction firm. She also said her family purchases around one to three cars a year.

Casipit said only 12 vehicles will be inspected, as these were the luxury cars with no import entry records with the BOC and are now up for verification.

“Based po sa records namin, 12 ho yung wala po kaming na-pull out na record sa Bureau of Customs, so we were banking on those data. We cannot check on other data na wala naman po kaming basis po,” he said.

(Based on our records, we were unable to pull out 12 records of vehicles from the Bureau of Customs, so we are banking on that data. We cannot check on other data for which we don’t have a basis.)

With no records on file, the BOC argued it had grounds to serve the search warrant, as the Discayas may have evaded paying the correct import duties and taxes.

“Ito ho yung mga wala ho kaming nakuhang verification ng import entry. So mayroon ho kaming probable cause na baka hindi po nabayaran nang tama ang import duties and taxes,” Casipit said.

(These are the ones we were unable to retrieve a verification of import entry. So we have a probable cause that the vehicles’ import duties and taxes may not have been paid correctly.)

Which cars is the BOC after

These are among the luxury cars for which he said the BOC wants to inspect the documents:

Cadillac Esplanade
Toyota Tundra
Toyota Sequoia
Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Mercedes-Benz
Toyota Tundra pick-up
Lincoln Navigator 2021
Lincoln Navigator 2024
Maserati Levante
Bentley Bentayaga

Casipit said that once the vehicles are identified, the BOC will require the necessary documents, including those submitted to the Land Transportation Office, to cross-check whether the Discayas paid the proper fees.

If the papers show the cars were properly registered and duties settled, the vehicles will not be seized. But if no documents are presented, the Discayas will have 15 days to submit them. Failure to do so will prompt the BOC to seize the vehicles.

During the Senate probe on Monday, Sarah also said she had purchased some of her luxury cars from Frebel Enterprises and Auto Art, which Sen. Tito Sotto revealed had actually been charged for smuggling in the past.

Discayas and their nine construction firms

Sarah admitted to having ties with nine construction firms that have served as government contractors in flood control probes during the Senate probe.

She later claimed to have fully divested from most of them, saying she remains involved only with Alpha & Omega General Contractor and Development Corp. But records show she also serves as chief finance officer of another company, while her husband holds chief operating officer posts in others.

Data from Sumbong sa Pangulo show that from 2022 to 2025, Discaya-linked construction firms secured more than 400 contracts worth roughly P30 billion.

This is despite President Bongbong Marcos’ own findings that some flood control projects awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corp., a Discaya-linked firm, were ghost projects.

Sarah, however, denied any role in these anomalies or connections with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).