The longtime friend of Dutertes is Davao’s best entrepreneur for flood control projects

A businessman close to the Dutertes has cornered most of the flood control projects from the Ministry of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the Davao region, learned.

Genesis88 Construction Inc. (Genesis88), owned by Duterte-Time Presidential Assistant for Sports Glenn Escandor, won nearly 2.9 billion p.

This results in a total of 35 projects – solo contracts and joint ventures (JV) with other companies included – in the region. In comparison, most other construction companies have only obtained projects of approximately one to five each. These projects are also found in the city of Davao – Genesis88 obtained around 25% or 35 of the 136 flood control projects, on the basis of the counting.

This also means that around 1 out of 4 flooding projects in the Dutertes lawn was allocated to Genesis88. The years when this has bagnted the contracts coincided with the moment when Rodrigo Duterte was president and eldest son Paolo or “Pulong” was the member of the Congress representing the 1st district of the city of Davao.

The former president DUTERTE chose Escandor to be his sports assistant shortly after his election as a 16th president in 2016. Spin reported that year that Escandor was “a long-standing sports consultant from Duterte during his mandate as mayor of the City of Davao and a private partner in many sports companies”.

But Escandor’s ties with the former president and the Duterte family go further than that.

“”Well, they are very close. Originally, “his father, colonel [Emilio] Escandore then Digong, the very close…. Then later, the meeting again then Glenn became a friend“Said a source that was close to the stairs.

It is of public notoriety in the city of Davao that the Escandore and the Duterte representative are close. This has been confirmed to be brought together by another source. A third source also indicated that the relationship between the Escalols and the Delères dates back a long way.

In 2017, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV accused the member of the Duterte Congress and the Escandor of being allegedly involved in smuggling. The former president then defended his son, audacity of the criticisms to prove that he was behind the smuggling of Ukay-Ukay (used clothing). The executive at the time said he would resign if his son was proven guilty.

“I have not yet seen or hear about your story involving the construction of Genesis 88 … and because of this, I cannot comment on this,” said the Duterte Congress member when he asked for comments.

Another proof of the close ties of the two families is the Escandor Development Corporation (ESDEVCO), a company based in Davao City led by the Escandor family. This company donated 99.923 million pesos for the advertisements of the Vice-President Sara Duterte during the national elections of 2022, according to the declaration of contributions and expenses of the vice-president seen by bringing.

The businessman’s family also has the Royal Mandaya Hotel and the Matina Enclaves Residences, which is a development for mixed use in the city.

After the election of Duterte in 2016, the clubhouse located in the enclaves served as a literal headquarters of power in the city of Mindanaoan. It was there that Duterte held his first meetings as president and the place where he announced his first share of cabinet appointments.

Duterte and its staff also used the Royal Mandaya Hotel for their operations and events, would have been free due to the close ties between the Escanders and the Dutertes.

Rappling sent letters to the company Genesis88 and Esdevco d’Escandor to request an interview or comments for this story. The journalist did the same at the vice-president office.

We have followed our interview request with Escandor companies by email, SMS and telephone calls several times. We also sent a request via the vice-president’s online planning system, in addition to the letters sent to its communication team.

We will update this story once we have received an answer from them.

Topon project entrepreneur

Genesis88 projects were contracted between 2021 and 2023, during the duration of the Duterte representative. By coincidence, 30 of these projects were built in the 1st Davao City district (Paolo territory), based on DPWH data.

Genesis88 won 28 of the projects in itself for more than 2 billion pesos (2.070 271 100 p). For the remaining seven out of 35 projects, the company entered JVS with the following companies:

• Abu Construction
• Agong Builders and Construction Supply, Inc.
• Gemma Construction Supply, Inc.

The company belonging to the Escandor has ahead of Legacy Construction Corporation – The Top Blood Flood Entrepreneur in all the Philippines – in the Davao region. Unlike Genesis88, Legacy was among the best 15 entrepreneurs who cornered 1 of the 5 flood control projects on a national scale.

Solo Contracting and JV Combined, Legacy was a second placer of Genesis88 with nearly 1.3 billion p of contracts (1.286,608,234) or 18 projects in total. This represents less than half of the amount of contracts guaranteed by the Escandore company.

Rosbill Construction and Supply and Abu Construction was in the third and fourth places, with 1.2 billion p (1,195,721,824; 18 projects) and 1.1 billion pesos (1,087,891,163; 14 projects).

The realization of the first five was Route Construction and Supply Inc. with 15 projects amounting to 1 billion pesos (1.009,509,927 p). Alpha and Omega Gen. Contractor and Development Corp, owned by the controversial couple disappeared, were in sixth with 11 projects worth 900 million pesos (P907 718 793).

The climb

The Genesis88 of Escandor was formed in 2018, according to the statutes of the company obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission. He has a “A” type license from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), which means that it can manage projects up to 150 million pesos.

In terms of all types of projects with the DPWH, Genesis88 is not among the main companies in the region. But since 2018, he has been putting a decent number of contracts each year.

The company won 289 million pesos (P289,500,000) of projects during its first year, but none the following year. Then, he started to bring billions of contracts between 2021 and 2024. His best year was so far in 2022 with 1.8 billion pesos (or 1,868,229,061.22 p).

From 2018 to the present day, the company has already packed over 6.8 billion pesos (6884,194,257) in contracts.

The company has scored the Escandore among its incorporators, as well as its wife Michelle Anne, and its daughters irrada and inna Melissa.

Based on the general information sheet in 2025 of the company, Escandor is the CEO while his wife is in chief of finance. Escandor holds 55% of Genesis88, which is now worth 27.5 million pesos.

The single person of the board of directors who is not an Escandor is Saturnino Bentulan, who holds a part of 1%. He is also listed as an authorized director of the Company (AMO) before the PCAB and represents Genesis88 in DPWH contracts.

As ano, Bentulan is working with DPWH in the name of Genesis88. – Rappel.com