Alcantara, DPWH contractor dropped from 3 cases–DOJ
Henry Alcantara, the dismissed public works official who was among the first to be implicated in the flood control corruption scandal, but who was later admitted into the witness protection program, now has fewer criminal cases to worry about.
Formerly the district engineer of the Bulacan regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Alcantara has been dropped as an accused in the three malversation and graft cases involving the contractor SYMS Construction Trading.
Also excluded from the cases is SYMS company owner Sally Santos, who like Alcantara has been accepted as a state witness by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Trials in Quezon City
Justice Undersecretary Polo Martinez, the DOJ spokesperson, on Wednesday reported that the trial for the cases already started weeks ago at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Minus Alcantara and Santos, only the following respondents are on trial:
• For the first case of graft and malversation at Branch 79 of Quezon City RTC – former Bulacan First District assistant engineer Brice Hernandez and chief of construction Jaypee Mendoza; project engineers Arjay Domasig and Niño Lawrence Morales; SYMS finance section chief Juanito Mendoza; administrative section chief Floralyn Simbulan and cashier Christina Mae Pineda.
• For the second case also at Branch 79 – The same set of accused plus former DPWH engineer Emelita Capistrano Juat.
• For the third case before Branch 88 of Quezon City RTC – Hernandez, Jaypee, Morales, Juanito, Simbulan and DPWH project engineer Lemuel Roque.
Alcantara, however, remains a respondent in three plunder complaints pending against former Sen. Bong Revilla, incumbent Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co.
Revilla case
The plunder complaint involving Revilla is still undergoing preliminary investigation at the DOJ, while the rest have been submitted for resolution.
For this complaint, a DOJ panel of prosecutors has approved the inclusion of four former DPWH engineers under the NCR office, namely Denryl Caesar Cortuna, Manny Bulusan, Ruel Umali, and Arturo Gonzales Jr., as respondents.
Martinez on Tuesday said Revilla was given until March 30 to submit a counteraffidavit to respond to the allegations against him by the four new co-respondents in their affidavits.
“The affidavits were worth looking into [and] they were accepted, and so in order to really see if all pieces of evidence merit a finding prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction … they need to be gathered. And upon the assessment by the prosecutors, they admitted them because they have weight,” the DOJ official earlier told reporters.
Revilla is currently detained for another public works corruption case being heard by the Sandiganbayan antigraft court.
