Contractors not qualified to be state witnesses, says Rep. Ridon

House Infrastructure Committee chairperson Terry Ridon stated that contractors Pacifico and Sarah Discaya, who admitted to bribing public officials, are not qualified to become state witnesses.

Ridon argued that the Discayas' involvement was crucial for the payoffs to occur, making them principal accused rather than witnesses.

The Witness Protection, Security, and Benefit Act or Republic Act No. 6981 states that an accused seeking to become a state witness should not appear to be the most guilty, and their testimony must be of absolute necessity.

This law applies to individuals like the Discaya couple, who are at the center of alleged corruption involving billions of pesos in flood control programs.

Lawmakers have also floated the idea of turning some public works engineers into state witnesses.