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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DOJ: There are 4 state witnesses in flood control mess; P1.5-B expected to be returned to gov't

DOJ: There are 4 state witnesses in flood control mess; P1.5-B expected to be returned to gov't

Published Jan 15, 2026 04:22 pm
There are four state witnesses in the multi-billion-peso flood control anomalies in the country and they have committed to return about P1.5 billion to the government, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Thursday, Jan. 15.
Acting DOJ Secretary Fredderick A. Vida said the four state witnesses are former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Roberto R. Bernardo, former DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry C. Alcantara, DPWH Regional Director Gerard P. Opulencia, and Sally Santos of Syms Construction Trading.
The DOJ said that a total of P316 million have been returned to the government. It said that Alcantara turned over P181 million; Opulencia, P80 million; Bernardo, P35 million; and Santos, P20 million.
“Sila po ay nakiki-pagtulungan sa Department of Justice para po mapalakas ‘yung ating mga kaso laban doon sa ating gustong habulin (They are helping the DOJ to strengthen our cases against those we want to run after),” Vida said.
DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty said that all the four state witnesses have each signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the department with commitment to return the money.
“Ang estimate doon sa apat lalampas sa P1.5 billion (It is estimated that the total money they committed to return will reach over P1.5 billion),” Ty said.
On the other hand, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony D. Fadullon said former DPWH assistant district engineers in Bulacan Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza were not accepted as state witnesses.
“Sa ngayon wala kaming nakikitang pangangailangan para sila ay i-discharge namin, at least, tungkol dito sa mga kaso kung saan sila ay lumalapit para matanggap bilang testigo estado (at the moment have seen no need to have them discharged as state witnesses in the cases where they applied as state witnesses),” Fadullon said.
But, Fadullon said the DOJ is not closing its doors to Hernandez and Mendoza to have them turn state witnesses in certain cases in the future.
There are currently 24 pending cases before the DOJ connected to the flood control mess.
Among which, DOJ Spokesperson and Prosecution Attorney Raphael Niccolo L. Martinez said, “tatlo po ‘yung plunder cases natin (we have three plunder cases.”
Martinez said Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito, former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and resigned congressman Elizaldy Co were separately charged with plunder in the three cases.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said that while he and his brother, Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla Jr. wanted to order the arrest of the persons involved in the P1 billion offer to stop their probe in the flood control projects, they could not do so because the connection was "flimsy" since the one who made the offer was only a middleman.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Jan. 15, Ombudsman Remulla said the offer was made by "a friend of a friend of a friend" so they were not able to substantiate the case of bribery.
"Bribery na yan. Corruption of public officers yan (That's bribery, corruption of public officers," the Ombudsman said.
However, he said that "wala talagang connection na pwede itahi (there's no connection to tie the bribe offer). Mahihirapan din tayong i-prove ang kaso (We will have a difficult time proving the case),” he also said.
The Ombudsman said he told his brother to be more alert should another instance like that take place, as he could already make an arrest should there be a "direct connection."
It was Local Government Secretary Remulla who revealed that there were two offers made for him and his brother to be "quiet" on the flood-control cases "so they would not be indicted." He did not name names.
However, the DILG secretary shared that one offer was made by a group from Visayas and Mindanao while the other was from Luzon. He merely said: “One is a contractor and the other is a congressman who is also a contractor," he said.
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