Former Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara--the person who oversaw the "ghost" flood control project in the province--appeared to have prioritized gambling in casinos over inspections on infrastructure works within his jurisdiction.

Thus, said Las Piñas lone district Rep. Mark Anthony Santos in his interpellation of Alcantara during the House Infrastructure Committee hearing Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Tuesday was the launch of the House inquiry on alleged anomalous and ghost flood control projects in the country.

"Nabayaran po natin without inspecting all those projects po. Parang lumalabas po mas prinayoritize pa yung pagpunta nila sa casino, which is alam po nating bawal (We paid him without inspecting all those projects. It's like they prioritized their casino trips, which we all know is prohibited)," Santos said.

"Kaya ko po tinanong yan, eh baka nangyayari po yan ngayon sa ating bureaucracy. Alam naman po natin na bawal po pumunta sa casino ang government employees and officials (I'm asking because it might be happening now in our bureaucracy. We all know that government employees and officials are barred from going to casinos)," he said.

Alcantara recalled before the infra comm his admission in an earlier Senate hearing that he gambles in casinos "two to three times a month".

"Nabanggit ko po sa Senate hearing na paminsan-minsan nagkakasama po kami nung diumano'y mga kasama ko po na nabanggit doon. At paminsan-minsan naman po ay ako lang," the engineer said, adding that other district officials serve as his companions.

(I mentioned in the Senate hearing that I sometimes get accompanied by my alleged companions there. And sometimes, I go on my own.)

To this, the Las Piñas legislator said: "I would like to manifest, kitang-kita naman po yung culpability and negligence ni Engineer Alcantara (the culpability and negligence of Engineer Alcantara is crystal clear)."

Earlier in Tuesday’s hearing, infra comm co-chairman, Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua established that Alcantara didn’t conduct personal inspections on local projects. And yet, the latter signed certificates of completion for such projects.

“Ni isa wala po kayong tiningnan? (You didn't inspect even a single one?)" Chua asked Alcantara.

“Meron naman (I did), your honor,” Alcantara replied. He said he relied on a team to conduct validation before the inspections were carried out.

But this meant that Alcantara did not actually review all projects on the ground, something that the district engineer admitted. "Your honor, hindi po (I didn't inspect everything)."

He later said that his completion certifcations were merely based on the assumption that the documents submitted to him by his team were complete and correct.

“Basta’t naniniwala kayo doon sa papel na binigay sa inyo na kumpleto, kaya mag-iissue na lang kayo? (So you simply believe the paper sent to you about its completion, and then yoi issue the certificate?)" an inredulous Chua asked.

“Yes, your honor, there is a presumed regularity to the documents presented to me, your honor," Alcantara said.

Chua said the admission carried serious implications, since the district engineer’s signature paved the way for government disbursements.

“Hindi po ito maliit na bagay. Kasi once he certifies, magre-release na po ng pera. ‘Yung certificate po niya ang nagiging basis ng releasing ng pera (This isn't a small thing. Because once he certifies, the money will be released. His certificate becomes the basis for the release of the money),” Chua stressed.

Chua brought up President Marcos' inspection in Bulacan last month, wherein the latter publicly described the river wall and flood mitigation projects there as “ghost projects" or non-existent.

One of these was the construction of a reinforced concrete river wall at Barangay Piel in Baliuag, Bulacan--a P55.7@million contract between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st Engineering District and contractor SYMS Construction Trading.