Court goes ‘ghost’ (project) hunting in Revilla case
PANDI, Bulacan—A Sandiganbayan justice, public prosecutors and lawyers of former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. went to the site of a P92.8-million flood control project here on Wednesday and saw it for what it was—a “ghost.”
Instead of a 100-meter-long flood control structure, Associate Justice Karl Miranda, chair of the antigraft court’s Third Division, and the inspection team found a riverbank overgrown with vegetation at Purok 5, Barangay Bunsuran, Pandi town.
“The fact that it’s a ghost project is now settled,” remarked one of the prosecutors, who noted that there were only visible parts of steel sheet piles but “no revetment and no containment wall.”
The ocular inspection will “help a lot” in the case against Revilla since “it shows that there is no flood control project,” the prosecutor added.
Revilla and six former officials and personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are facing malversation and graft charges before the Third Division and Fourth Division, respectively, over the allegedly anomalous project.
Government prosecutors alleged that Revilla and his coaccused conspired to facilitate the release of P76 million for the construction of the project, yet it was never built. Revilla had repeatedly denied the charges.
On April 6, Ivan Bernard Samson, an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation detailed in Bulacan, testified that the “notice to proceed” with the project was issued on April 8, 2025.
Where is Project 299?
However, he said the project was declared 95.17-percent complete on April 29—or just 21 days after — whereas such a structure would normally take “two to three months” to be finished.
The inspection was conducted to confirm the existence of “Project 299”—the subject of the case against Revilla.
But the group only saw an adjacent flood control structure that was assumed to be Project 647. Between Project 647 and the supposed location of Project 299, there was a 40-meter gap or undeveloped space.
In a previous hearing, Kenneth Edward Fernando, officer in charge of Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office of the DPWH, testified that he had visited the area before and only found structure corresponding to Project 647.
Samson, the NBI agent, said he had also visited the spot indicated by the plan coordinates for Project 299 but did not see any work done.
Senate hearings suspended
In Bunsuran, one of the most flood-prone villages in Bulacan, Emily Golgotha said she wasn’t aware of any project near her home until it cropped up in Senate investigations.
“We only learned about it when it was investigated,” the 46-year-old housewife said.
In a related development, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has suspended all hearings of the Senate blue ribbon committee (BRC) on the public works corruption scandal.
Lacson, the committee chair, deferred the hearing supposedly scheduled on Tuesday pending the submission of a sworn affidavit by former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson and the signing of the partial committee report by at least five more panel members.
Only four—Lacson, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, and Bam Aquino—have so far signed the initial report, which recommends a preliminary investigation into individuals implicated in the controversy, including three incumbent senators.
“I do not expect any member of the minority to sign. They can offer all kinds of reasons all they want, wise or otherwise not to fulfill their duties as members. It’s on them, not on the chairman,” Lacson said in a Viber message on Wednesday.
“That said, I am suspending all hearings until I have reported out to sponsor in plenary the partial committee report at the very least,” he said.
Citing the Senate rules, Lacson explained that “all inquiries in aid of legislation should end up in recommended legislative actions via a committee report, except the BRC which can also investigate and recommend the filing of criminal cases for malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance.”
5 more signatures needed
Lacson said he is confident that he would still get at least five more senators to sign the report to complete the required majority of nine.
Sen. Imee Marcos had earlier said that she would not sign the partial report unless there is a complete and thorough investigation.
According to Marcos, she had a report with watermarks but could not verify if it was the same document being routed to the committee members.
“If that’s the one—the one with those watermarks—I won’t sign it,” she said.
