MANILA — Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto on Thursday claimed his expected rival in the 2025 elections owns St. Timothy Construction Corp (STCC), one of the companies that was supposed to provide automated voting machines for the Philippines’ 2025 elections.

Sotto released his statement hours after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) flagged a possible conflict of interest, saying that it received reports that one of its contracting partners would run for national and local posts in the midterm elections.

STCC was among the joint venture partners of Southern Korean company Miru Systems, the lone bidder for the P18-billion contract to provide automated counting machines (ACM) and other election paraphernalia for the 2025 midterm polls.

“The same people are behind ST GERRARD CONSTRUCTION (SGC) and ST TIMOTHY CONSTRUCTION,” Sotto said in a social media post.

“They go around using ST.GERRARD as if it's a political party,” he said.

St. Gerrard boss claims Sotto demonizing construction firm 'for publicity'

Among St. Gerrard’s owners and top officials is Sarah Discaya, a businesswoman who earlier confirmed that she would run for Pasig City Mayor next year.

Sotto also uploaded a copy of St. Timothy’s supposed articles of incorporation filed in July 2014. Of its 5 incorporators, at least 3 have Discaya either as their last name or middle name.

“This is well known in many circles. The evidence is also overwhelming-- the 2 construction companies have common incorporators, use the same business address.. the Presidents of both companies even declare the same RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS,” the incumber Pasig Mayor said.

“Imagine being a financier/contracting party for Comelec's automated election machines, and running in the same elections? Hindi ko maunawaan kung paano nila naiisip na OK lang yon,” he said.

“They also have a questionable track record as government contractors. Example, they were once suspended by the DPWH for submitting a fake BIR tax clearance,” he added.

St. Timothy’s office address is at 793 F. Manalo Street corner J. Pueblo Street, Barangay Bambang, Pasig, the firm’s general information sheet filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

On the other hand, St. Gerrard’s registered address is at 792 F. Manalo Street corner J. Pueblo Street, Barangay Bambang, Pasig, according to a suspension order issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2020.

SGC — one of the top government contractors during the Duterte administration — was suspended from participating in all government projects for a year for the delay of the construction of several educational facilities at the Lumampong National High School in Indang, Cavite.

In 2015, SGC was also suspended from participating from public projects for a year after the Bureau of Internal Revenue flagged a questionable tax clearance it submitted to the Procurement Service.

Its owners has since opened a new construction firm called St. Gerrard General Contractor and Development Corporation.

ST. GERRARD DENIES

In a statement, St. Gerrard denied any connection to STCC, saying that “any and all claims or insinuations to the contrary are entirely false and unfounded.”

“We would like to categorically state that our company has not engaged in any form of collaboration, partnership, or any kind of participation in the company of St. Timothy,” the statement read.

“We respect the integrity of the democratic process and we are one with the government in promoting transparency and accountability especially in providing clean and honest elections,” it read.

The construction firm also urged the public to “avoid speculation or misinformation” particularly from political personalities.

“We call on the general public to refer to official channels for accurate information to avoid speculation or misinformation, especially those coming from politicians who are piggybacking on contrived  issues to tarnish and damage our reputation,” the company said without naming any personality.

Curlee Discaya, owner of St. Gerrard, also dismissed as “speculation” information that St. Gerrard shared the same address with STCC.

When asked why some of STCC’s incorporators also had Discaya as their last name, he said: “Inimbistigahan na po ng Senate yan… at wala po na-establish na link sa amin magkaiba po ng incorporators ‘yan.”

“Katunayan tapos na po Senate investigation na yan. Sana dun pa lang po na connect na po kami. Speculation lang po lahat yun,” he told ABS-CBN News.

Meantime, Miru Sysytems earlier said that it will “move forward” with election preparations with its two other joint venture partners after STCC’s withdrawal.

“While STCC played a role in meeting regulatory compliance requirements, they did not contribute to the development of our voting machines or services to be used in the 2025 National and Local Elections,” the South Korean company said in a statement.

“We thank STCC for their transparency and proactivity in withdrawing from this partnership,” it said.

“We reiterate that this will not affect our commitment to delivering a better automated system in the service of Filipinos.”