Phill News Entertainment – Phill News
MANILA, Philippines – Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has accused a rival candidate in next year’s mayoral election of having ties to Miru Systems, a South Korean company that won a P18-billion contract for automatic counting machines to be used in the 2025 midterm elections. Sotto made the allegations after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported possible conflicts of interest following reports that people with ties to election contractors were running for office. Sotto said in a social media post that his expected rival in the 2025 election, Sara Discaya, allegedly owned St. Timothy Construction Corp. (STCC), which is a local partner of Miru Systems. Miru Systems was the sole bidder for the contract to provide automatic counting machines and other election supplies for the 2025 elections.
“The same people are behind St. Gerard Construction (SGC) and St. Timothy Construction,” Sotto said. “They are using St. Gerard as if it were a political party.”
SGC has denied any ties to STCC and said Sotto’s allegations are false and unfounded.
A report from dzRH claims that Miru Systems confirmed that STCC had withdrawn from the project.
Sotto noted that St. Timothy’s purported articles of incorporation dated July 2014 feature three Diskayas, identified by their last or middle names, among the five founders.
“This is well known in many circles. “The evidence is overwhelming. The two construction companies have the same founders, use the same business address…the presidents of both companies even list the same home address,” Sotto said.
He stressed that sponsors and contractors of Comelec voting machines cannot run in the same election.
Sotto said STCC has a questionable track record as a government contractor and was once suspended by the Department of Public Works and Highways for submitting fraudulent tax returns to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Meanwhile, SGC, one of the biggest government contractors during the Duterte administration, was reportedly suspended for one year from participating in all government projects due to delays in the construction of several educational facilities at Lumampong National High School in Indang, Cavite.
Carly D’Iscaya, owner of St. Gerard, denied Sotto’s allegations, saying her company was “not involved in any collaboration, partnership or involvement with St. Timothy’s.”
