ASEANEWS HEADLINE-COURTS & CRIME | MANILA: ICI eyes plunder, bribery vs Jinggoy, Joel, Zaldy, others
Other public officials named in the report were resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co, former Caloocan lawmaker Mitch Cajayon-Uy, former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo and former audit commissioner Mario Lipana./ STAR / File
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ICI recommends plunder, bribery raps vs. Estrada, Villanueva, Co, others over flood control mess
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MANILA, Philippines — The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has recommended charges of plunder and bribery against six public officials, including Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, for participating in an elaborate scheme devised by Bulacan district engineers to funnel kickbacks from flood control projects.
ICI chairman Andres Reyes Jr. personally delivered piles of documentary evidence to the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday to accompany its 19-page interim report explaining how corruption in flood control projects under the jurisdiction of Bulacan’s first district engineering office took place.
Other public officials named in the report were resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co, former Caloocan lawmaker Mitch Cajayon-Uy, former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo and former audit commissioner Mario Lipana.
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Their possible offenses, the ICI said, include direct or indirect bribery and corruption of public officials as defined by Articles 210, 211 and 212 of the Revised Penal Code, and violation of Sections 3(b) and (c) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“Politicians and government officials will be investigated and charged with credible evidence. Those found responsible will face the consequences and be held accountable under the rule of law,” he added.
The ICI clarified that the interim report is not tantamount to categorical findings of guilt, as “liability rests with the proper authorities.”
This marks the second time that the ICI has made recommendations to the ombudsman since the commission began its work in mid-September.
The first one involved 18 officials, including Co, over a P289.5-million flood work in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro riddled with mismatched construction materials and improper documentation for progress billings.
Amid public impatience that the probe into the multibillion-peso corruption in public works has been moving slowly, the ICI kept reiterating that it has no power to throw suspects behind bars and that its mandate is merely recommendatory.
The fact-finding body has been focusing first on the “low-hanging fruit” – 421 suspected ghost projects where cases can be built easily. Field validators from the Armed Forces, Philippine National Police and the planning agency have been conducting technical validation over the past weeks.
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Still, the commission would pursue everyone involved in the scandal, which has rocked government institutions, dampened business sentiment and sparked threats of military adventurism.
In a nod to the failures of the 2013 pork barrel controversy to weed out the big fishes, Reyes assured the public: “Justice will not be delayed this time. This is our promise to our countrymen.”
Kickback
In the report, the ICI laid out how officials from Bulacan’s disgraced engineering office colluded with lawmakers to extract grease money from flood works in a scheme that began when the cast of characters met each other in 2021, based on testimonies from the men who participated in the scam.
“They personally immersed themselves in the practice of giving kickbacks and advances to legislators from their own pockets, in consideration of favorable promises, to the detriment of public work projects within their jurisdiction, which caused loss of lives and properties and multibillion-peso public funds squandered,” the report stated.
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Former Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara and Bernardo would be “approached” by lawmakers to serve as proponents for their proposed items during budget deliberations in exchange for 10 to 30 percent in commission per project “coming from different contractors.”
Once the projects were included in the budget, the payoffs would be facilitated by Alcantara’s top lieutenants, assistant district engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, and the money would be personally delivered to the proponents’ homes.
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“The proponent, who is either a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, will inform Alcantara that he or she has a budget allocated for infrastructure projects,” the ICI wrote. “From here, Alcantara will direct Hernandez to make a list of projects based on the budget that the proponent has.”
Hernandez would hand over the list to project engineer Carlo Rivera, which would then be transmitted to the public works’ regional office in Bulacan or the proponent themselves.
If the project list was given to the proponent, that official would insert it during bicameral proceedings which, before this year, have been conducted behind closed doors.
A certain level of kickbacks, also known as “obligations” or “SOP,” would be paid by the contractors to the proponent, depending on where the project was reflected during the budget process.
“An advance payment of 10 percent of the budget allocation when the National Expenditure Program (NEP) is released, while the remaining 15 percent would be paid off when the General Appropriations Act (GAA) is passed,” the report said.
“If the insertions were included in the GAA, the whole 25 percent of ‘SOP’ is given to the proponent,” it added.
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Reyes said most proponents prefer flood control projects because they can receive a higher share of kickbacks than ordinary infrastructure works.
“The scheme shall always involve flood control projects because the kickback is 25 to 30 percent,” he said, adding, “It is higher than the kickback from other projects, which is only at 10 percent.”
‘Obligations’
All in all, the Bulacan first district engineering office received a mammoth P6.86 billion in funding for public works from 2022 to 2025, with a chunk of it parked for proponents’ “obligations,” including P300 million in the 2024 budget for the reelection campaign of former senator Bong Revilla, who has been spared – at least for now.
The report alleged that in 2022, Villanueva wanted a P1.5-billion multipurpose building, but was only allowed to spend P600 million. To pacify the “displeased” senator, Bernardo and Alcantara worked to insert P600 million of flood control projects into the unprogrammed funds of the 2023 budget, with his supposed P150-million kickback delivered by Alcantara to his rest house in the town of Bocaue and received by his aide named “Peng.”
As for Estrada – twice imprisoned for alleged corruption but walked free after receiving court acquittals – Alcantara’s staffer drafted a list of projects in just 15 minutes sometime in 2024 to make up the P355 million in the senator’s “excess” flood control allocations.
Co, whose whereabouts are still unknown since leaving the country midyear for medical treatment abroad, was the proponent of 426 flood works from 2022 to 2025 totaling P35.02 billion, making way for these items in three ways: the NEP, the bicameral proceedings or the unprogrammed allocations.
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The report confirmed that cash loaded into luggage, with each carrying bundles of money worth P50 million, were delivered to Co’s penthouse in Shangri-La in Taguig and residence inside Valle Verde 6 in Pasig.
About six deliveries were recorded at the Shangri-La from 2022 to 2023 and about nine at Valle Verde.
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Meanwhile, Cajayon-Uy requested projects in 2021 amounting to P411 million, when she was still undersecretary. The Caloocan lawmaker, who was defeated last May, was executive director of the Council for the Welfare of Children, an attached agency of the social welfare department.
Additionally, Lipana had a different purpose for proposing projects. According to the report, the flood works he pushed were meant to “protect him and Co’s properties in Bustos, Bulacan.”
The audit commissioner also asked for the final billing for a streetlights project in Bustos, as he secured licensing funds for it through his wife’s company, Olympus Mining and Builders Group Phils Corp.
“There is simply no denying that the advances given to the subject legislators were by reason of their office as members of the House of Representatives and the Senate who had all the power to dictate what projects are to be funded, and to influence the DPWH as to who could be the contractors that would benefit from the award of projects,” the ICI wrote.
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Joel, Jinggoy deny involvement
As expected, Villanueva and Estrada denied any involvement in the alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
Estrada said he did not receive any funds intended for flood control projects and was ready to defend himself in court.
“The accusations against me are purely hearsay or based on rumors,” he said in a statement.
“The recommendation of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure does not weaken my resolve to prove that I have done nothing wrong. I welcome every opportunity to clear my name before the proper forum,” he added.
Villanueva, for his part, said he would wait for the ICI’s official referral to the ombudsman before responding in detail.
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“My lawyers will study the basis of my inclusion in the ICI’s referral. We will await the action of the ombudsman and file our answer,” he Said .– Neil Jayson Servallos, Rudy Santos, Elizabeth Marcelo, Jose Rodel Clapano, Daphne Galvez
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