A pilgrim’s progress cut short by flood mess case
One of the former public works officials facing criminal charges at the Sandiganbayan over flood control project anomalies “voluntarily surrendered” while on a Christian pilgrimage tour overseas, according to his defense counsel.
Montrexis Tordecilla Tamayo, a former planning and design division chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Region IV-B, was in Egypt in November last year when he learned about the warrant for his arrest.
Tamayo then proceeded to Israel and surrendered to the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv, lawyer Von Añonuevo told reporters after a hearing at the antigraft court on Thursday.
“He was on a Roman Catholic pilgrimage,” Añonuevo said of his client, who is an accused along with former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co in a malversation case being heard by the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division.
Mitigating factor
Following his surrender, Tamayo was brought back to the country and had since been detained at the New Quezon City Jail.
The former DPWH official was presented in court on Thursday. During the hearing, his lawyer said a Philippine Embassy representative was supposed to attest to his voluntary surrender on Nov. 24, 2025.
A voluntary surrender can be considered a mitigating factor that can reduce the penalty of a convicted individual.
Asked by the division chair, Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez, about their position on Tamayo’s surrender, state prosecutors said they were willing to stipulate or would no longer contest the matter.
“The court is also helping your client save some funds,” Fernandez told Añonuevo, noting that the embassy representative may have to be flown in from Tel Aviv just to personally testify in the court.
Tamayo, Co and seven others are on trial over an allegedly substandard road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, worth P289.4 million.
Tamayo is accused of being one of the officials who falsified project documents.
Co, who is being linked to the private contractor behind the project, has been at large since mid-2025. Declared a fugitive by the court, he was last reported by the government to be seeking political asylum in France.
