8 in flood works mess now in gov’t custody
Eight of the 16 individuals ordered by the antigraft court arrested for their involvement in the anomalous flood control project in Oriental Mindoro province have been taken into custody by authorities, President Marcos announced on Monday.
They were, however, the bottom of the totem pole in the widening corruption scandal that allegedly involved members of the Cabinet and lawmakers in both chambers of Congress.
In a video statement, President Marcos said that out of the 16 people listed in the three warrants of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan, eight were already held by law enforcement agencies: the National Bureau of Investigation made the lone arrest, while the seven other accused “voluntarily surrendered” to the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).
According to the President, two more accused also sent feelers of their intention to surrender to the PNP-CIDG.
Mug shots shared by the Presidential Communications Office and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) showed that the seven individuals who surrendered to the PNP-CIDG on Sunday were all officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan).
They were regional director Gerald Pacanan; former assistant regional director (now director of DPWH central office’s bureau of maintenance) Gene Ryan Altea; assistant regional director Ruben Santos Jr.; construction division chief Dominic Serrano; maintenance division head Juliet Calvo; project engineer III Felisardo Casuno; and accountant IV of the bids and awards committee Lerma Cayco.
The eighth accused, engineer Dennis Abagon also of the Mimaropa regional office, was arrested at a house in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City, early Sunday morning, NBI officer in charge Angelito Magno said in a briefing at Camp Crame on Monday.
The house is reportedly owned by the vice mayor of Bansud, Oriental Mindoro, according to the DILG, adding that if the local official is proven to have harbored him and kept him, he will face charges for obstruction of justice.
More arrests coming
In an interview over dzMM on Monday, Bansud Vice Mayor Alma Mirano confirmed that the apartment where Abagon was caught was hers.
She denied harboring Abagon, saying it was her who informed the NBI about the DPWH engineer’s location in her property. Mirano, however, admitted she did not know that there was a standing warrant of arrest against Abagon until on Monday.
The accused were all implicated in a substandard P289.5-million road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, funded by the DPWH’s 2024 budget, and awarded to resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co’s Sunwest Corp.
They were charged with malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents and violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for causing undue injury to the government.
The arrest warrants and hold departure orders stemmed from the first three cases to reach the Sandiganbayan in relation to the investigation of anomalous infrastructure projects as ordered by President Marcos.
The two Sandiganbayan divisions handling the Mindoro case have ordered the detention of the eight DPWH officials at Camp Karingal and New Quezon City Jail in Quezon City.
Jail Director Ruel Rivera, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology chief, said the six male accused—Abagon, Pacanan, Casuno, Serrano, Santos and Altea—will be kept together in one cell in the New Quezon City Jail’s regular wing.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla did not expound on the specifics of Calvo and Cayco’s detention.
President Marcos ordered the remaining fugitives to surrender, with authorities racing against time to fulfill the commitment of the President to put at least 37 individuals in jail before Christmas Day.
Interpol assistance
Aside from Co, among those still at large are Sunwest president and chair Aderma Angelie Alcazar (who was last tracked to be in New Zealand); treasurer Cesar Buenaventura (believed to be in New York) and board members Consuelo Aldon, Noel Cao and Anthony Ngo; DPWH Mimaropa planning and design division OIC Montrexis Tamayo (whose last known location was in Jordan); materials engineer Timojen Sacar, and bids and awards committee vice chair Friedrich Karl Camero and member Grace Lopez.
It was not clear why Camero and Lopez were not on the list of suspects with arrest warrants identified by the DILG in its presentation on Monday.
According to Remulla, authorities were having a hard time to track Co as they believed he was traveling using another passport and another identity.
With the warrants of arrest already issued by the court, the Philippines can now request for Interpol to upgrade the “blue notice” it issued against Co to a “red notice” to determine his location, effect his arrest and start extradition proceedings.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, has yet to receive a court order instructing that they cancel Co’s passport, spokesperson Angelica Escalona said on Monday.
“Save for Zaldy Co, the other members who are believed to be abroad have made contact with our law enforcement agencies and expected to show up at the embassy and begin immediate repatriation to the Philippines,” Remulla said.
New Co video
In another recorded video statement released on Monday, Co said he delivered P56.4 billion in cash hidden inside pieces of luggage from 2022 to 2025 to the residences of President Marcos and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
President Marcos dismissed the fresh accusations against him, challenging Co to return to the country and prove his claims straight to his face.
“It means nothing,” Marcos said in a press briefing on Monday. “For it to mean something, he should come home and face the cases against him.”
Marcos told Co: “Why are you hiding in a faraway place? I am not hiding. If you have accusations against me, I am here. Come at me. Be fair.”
Romualdez earlier denied Co’s accusations, saying his conscience remains clear. —WITH REPORTS FROM FAITH ARGOSINO, CHARIE ABARCA AND JANE BAUTISTA
