JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended the filing of criminal complaints against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, Rep. Zaldy Co, former Rep. Mary Mitzi “Mitch” Cajayon-Uy, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Robert Bernardo, and dismissed Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara in relation to kickbacks in flood control projects.
Remulla told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that the NBI charges are for violation of Section 3 of RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), Article 211 of the Revised Penal Code (indirect bribery), and Article 217 of the RPC (malversation of public funds).
He said the charges were based on the allegations made by Alcantara in the sworn affidavit that he submitted during the Senate committee’s fifth hearing yesterday.
He said the NBI will conduct further investigation on During the morning session of the hearing and after Alcantara read into the records his sworn affidavit, Remulla requested that he be allowed to bring the engineer to the DOJ so they can immediately evaluate his affidavit, saying that the “gravity” of his accusations warrant that appropriate cases be filed as soon as possible against the personalities that he named.
“Due to the gravity of the allegations in the affidavit and it being a sworn statement, I believe that his will be very helpful to the Department of Justice and the Witness Protection Program in trying to file a case as soon as possible as this is the demand of the people,” Remulla said.
Senate president pro tempore Panfilo Lacson, who is the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, agreed to his request.
Remulla and Alcantara returned to the Senate in the afternoon, after which the justice secretary announced the NBI’s recommendation against Estrada, Villanueva, Co, Cajayon-Uy, Bernardo and Alcantara.
He said investigators are still looking at the criminal liability of Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana and his wife, who is a contractor who also corned flood control projects in Bulacan.
Remulla also told senators that they have coordinated with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for the freezing of the assets of the individuals.
“So, given that, I believe that freeze orders have already been issued by the AMLC over the bank accounts of these persons,” he said.
ALCANTARA AFFIDAVIT
During the hearing, Alcantara finally admitted to giving kickbacks to lawmakers who were the proponents of budget insertions for Bulacan infrastructure projects, saying he was conscience-stricken.
In the past Senate hearings, Alcantara has repeatedly denied that he was involved in the giving of commissions or kickbacks to lawmakers related to anomalous flood control contracts in the First District Engineering Office, which he formerly headed.
In his sworn affidavit, Alcantara said “proponent” commissions were given to Estrada, Villanueva, Co, and Cajayon-Uy.
He also alleged that former senator Bong Revilla Jr. got a kickback from a budget insertion that he supposedly made in the 2024 national budget.
He likewise named Lipana and Ferdstar Builders who allegedly also benefited from budget insertions for flood control projects in the national budget.
Alcantara said he kept a record of the transactions that he detailed in his affidavit, including how flood control projects were funded through budget insertions, the amount of kickbacks given to project proponents, and how the kickbacks were delivered.
He said his disclosures were all based on personal knowledge.
KICKBACKS
Alcantara told senators that it was Bernardo who helped him to be appointed as district engineer of the First District Engineering Office (DEO) of Bulacan in 2019 when the latter was the DPWH undersecretary for operations in the Visayas region.
Bernardo did not attend yesterday’s hearing, but is scheduled to appear in the next hearing on Thursday.
Alcantara said the kickbacks scheme started in 2022 when Bernardo, who was then chief of planning of the Laguna 2nd DEO, downloaded P350 million to the Bulacan DEO-1, which was supposedly inserted during the bicameral meetings, for six flood control projects. He said Bernardo told him that 25 percent of the amount will go to the lawmaker-proponent of the budget insertion.
He said 20 percent, or P70 million, was delivered to Bernardo, but did not explain what happened to the remaining 5 percent. He also did not name the lawmaker-proponent.
In 2023, Alcantara said Bernardo again placed P710 million worth of flood control projects to the Bulacan-DEO1. He said P450 million of the amount was supposedly “inserted” in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), while the remaining P260 million was inserted in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
He said Bernardo told him that an advance payment of 5 to 15 percent will be given to the proponent once the NEP is already submitted to the House of Representatives, and 5 to 15 percent of the insertions will also be given to the proponents once the bicameral discussions are done. The balance will be given to the proponent once the GAA is signed by the President.
In 2024, Alcantara said a total of P3.3 billion insertions – P150 million in the NEP, P300 million in the GAA, and P2.85 billion in the unprogrammed appropriations – were again downloaded to the Bulacan district.
He said the same arrangement for the payment of proponent’s kickbacks was applied.
“I usually tell my driver to bring the proponent’s share to Usec. Bernardo at the parking area of Diamond Hotel, which will then be directly transferred to his vehicle),” he said in Filipino.
Also in 2024, Alcantara said Bernardo told him that a P300 million insertion was made by Revilla in the 2024 national budget. He said he gave Revilla a 30 percent proponent commission, instead of only 25 percent, as “assistance” for his reelection campaign in the 2025 senatorial race.
“That’s why instead of 25 percent, I increased it (commission) to 30 percent for the proponent of the said project as a form of assistance to the candidacy of Sen. Bong Revilla),” he said.
Alcantara said it was in 2024 when the kickbacks were upped from 25 to 30 percent following the downloading of a total of P2.85 billion under the unprogrammed appropriations.
In 2025, he said, Bernardo again dumped P2.55 billion (P1.6 billion inserted in the NEP, and P900 million in the GAA) to the Bulacan DEO, under the same commission arrangement.
He said most of the insertions were made in the NEP and at the bicameral levels.
VILLANUEVA, ESTRADA
Alcantara said that it was in 2022 when Villanueva requested for a multi-purpose building project worth P1.5 billion. He said only P600 million was made available, which he said did not sit well with the senator.
“Sen. Joel did not ask for a particular project or certain percentage but Usec. Bernardo ordered me to just give him a proponent (fee) worth P150 million. With this, we gave Sen. Joel P600 million worth of flood control projects under the Unprogrammed Appropriations of the 2023 budget. Twenty five percent of P600M would be P150 million),” Alcantara said.
He said he brought the P150 million to a rest house in Barangay Iguot, Bocaue, Bulacan and handed it to a certain “Peng.” He said he told Peng to give the money to the “boss”, referring to the senator, as “help” for his “future plans.”
Alcantara’s deputy, engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez, has also told the Senate panel and the House Committee on Infrastructure that kickbacks were given to Villanueva in 2023 for P600 million worth of flood control projects.
Villanueva has denied the allegations.
Yesterday, Villanueva said in a statement: “Earlier today, during the hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee, my name was once again mentioned by District Engineer Henry Alcantara. Let me state this clearly at the very start: I am fully prepared to be investigated on these allegations. I have nothing to hide, and I welcome any inquiry that will bring out the truth.”
Meanwhile, Alcantara said that while waiting for the DPWH’s turn during the 2024 budget deliberations, Bernardo asked him if he wanted to give anyone a proponent commission, saying that “SJE” (referring to Estrada), still has an available P355 million budget.
When he replied in the affirmative, Bernardo supposedly instructed him to make a list of the “projects” and hand it to him so they can present it during the budget deliberations that night.
“The proponent will be given 25 percent and I gave the list to Usec. Bernardo, together with the other proponents for the downloaded budget for the year 2025),” he said.
Alcantara clarified that he did not directly transact or talked with Estrada regarding the insertion, and that everything was coursed through Bernardo.
Estrada has repeatedly denied making budget insertions and getting kickbacks from Bulacan flood control projects.
ZALDY CO, CAJAYON-UY
Alcantara said he met Co sometime in August or September of 2021 in a meeting in Shangri-la Hotel in Taguig City where they discussed Co’s plan to download funds to the Bulacan office.
Alcantara said the first set of projects Co downloaded were six FCPs worth P519 million.
He said that from 2022 to 2025, Co downloaded a total of 426 projects which totaled to more than P35 billion.
He said the projects were NEP, bicameral and unprogrammed allocation insertions.
“I gave an ‘obligation’ to Cong. Zaldy Co for every project that he downloaded based on what we agreed on. For 2022, Co asked for 20 percent for each project, but it increased to 25 percent from 2023 to 2025,” he said.
He said Co would immediately ask for his commission of 10 percent per project when the insertion is made in the NEP, while the balance will be given when the GAA is approved.
When the project is inserted in the bicameral level, Alcantara said Co would ask for 10 percent per project, with the balance to be given two months after the GAA was approved.
But when the project is inserted in the unprogrammed appropriations, he said Co would immediately demand for the 25 percent commission per project.
Alcantara said that he personally delivered the money to Co’s alleged emissaries whom he identified only as “Paul” and “Mark” in the parking lot of Shangri-la Hotel in Taguig City. There were instances, he added, that he delivered them directly to Co’s house in Valle Verde 6, Pasig City.
He said Co also downloaded funds to other engineering districts because the funds in B1-DEO were already overflowing. He said Co downloaded P573 million tfo Bulacan’s 2nd DEO in 2023; P1.35 billion to Tarlac 1st-DEO also in 2023; P1.65 billion in unprogrammed appropriations also to Tarlac’s 1st DEO in 2024.
For Tarlac’s 2nd DEO, he said Co downloaded P925 million in 2023 and P1.025 billion in unprogrammed appropriations; while P1.125 billion was placed under the unprogrammed appropriations in 2023 for Pampanga’s 3rd DEO; and P75 million also under the unprogrammed appropriations for the same DEO in 2024.
Hernandez told senators yesterday that he delivered at least P1 billion in kickbacks to Co through his representative.
He said the money were placed in 20 suitcases, with each containing around P50 million, which were then loaded in “six or seven vans” and delivered to a hotel in Taguig City, where a staff member of Co supposedly received it.
In a short statement, Co denied all the allegations against him.
“The allegations made against me during today’s Senate hearing are false and baseless. I reserve my right to respond to these allegations at the proper time before the proper forum,” said the embattled lawmaker, who has reportedly already left the United States.
Alcantara said he met Cajayon-Uy in 2021 when she asked if she can download insertions in B1-DEO, to which he replied in the affirmative.
He said it was in 2022 when Cajayon-Uy inserted P411 million for nine flood control projects in the GAA, of which she got a 10 percent commission.
Hernandez, later in the hearing, said Reps. Tina Pancho (2nd district), Ambrosio “Boy” Cruz Jr. (5th district), and Danilo “Danny” Domingo (1st district) also asked for 15 to 20 percent share of the Bulacan flood control projects. It was however, unclear if the commissions were given.
Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco yesterday filed an ethics complaint against Co for allegedly violating the Constitution, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and rules of the House of Representatives in the face of allegations of massive graft and corruption against him.
The complaint also accused Co of betrayal of public trust for the questionable acts he allegedly committed as chair of the House Committee on Appropriations in the 19th Congress.
Tiangco said the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) “has been considered as the most scandalous, corrupt, and highly irregular budget. The insertions bypassed priority projects and cast serious doubts on the legitimacy of purpose.”
A copy of the complaint was sent to Rep. Jonathan Clement Abalos, chair of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, which has the authority to discipline erring lawmakers by imposing sanctions ranging from a simple reprimand to expulsion from the House.
PHOTOS
Alcantara confessed that he was the one wearing a blue shirt in the photograph presented by Lacson during the hearing last week where piles of money were laid on a table.
He said the photo was taken in 2022 at their old conference room.
“For everyone’s information, that money was meant for Cong. Zaldy’s bicam worth P519 million, wherein its proponent will have a 20 percent commission. These came from the different contractors who cornered projects downloaded by Cong. Zaldy during the 2022 bicam),” he said.
He said the second photo presented by Lacson, where a billiard table was covered with money amounting to P579 million, was advance payments that were delivered to Co.
The money, he said, represented 10 percent of a P5.79 billion budget insertion that Co supposedly made in the 2023 NEP.
Lacson questioned the DPWH for its so-called “leadership fund” which allowed lawmakers to play with the NEP.
He learned of such “funds” when questioning former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan, who attended yesterday’s hearing.
Lacson asked how Bernardo was able to download hundreds of millions of pesos worth of projects sourced from the NEP to the B1-DEO.
Bonoan said the DPWH consolidates requested projects of lawmakers in the NEP, including those through the “leadership fund” in the Senate.
He said the proposals were vetted by the DPWH planning service so the projects included “are consistent with development programs.”
He said insertions in the NEP are allowed to avoid complications during the bicameral discussions.
SUBSTANDARD
Hernandez told senators that they constructed substandard government projects so they can meet their “obligations” to the proponents by not following the original plan for structures such as roads, multi-purpose buildings and classrooms.
For one, he said that they used weaker types of cement which cost less than the sturdier ones, and at times, even shortened the coverage of roads to be built so they can have savings for the obligations.
He said “only 30 percent of the total project cost actually goes for construction… It is 50 percent of the total cost for buildings.”
He said they were forced to slash construction fundings to meet the demands for kickbacks, which he said started in 2019 when Alcantara came on board.
Hernandez said that all projects in B1-DEO have the same arrangements. – With Wendell Vigilia
