DOJ: Estrada, Revilla, Co facing plunder charges
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday said Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. and resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, each faces a plunder complaint in connection with kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects as four key individuals were admitted into the government’s witness protection program.
Undersecretary Polo Martinez, the DOJ spokesperson, said the three “high profile personalities that the public may be interested in” may be charged separately with plunder—the illegal accumulation of wealth of at least P50 million by government officials and employees—which is penalized by 40 years of imprisonment.
Nearly six months into its probe of flood control irregularities with two sets of graft cases filed in court, the DOJ also announced that two former and one suspended public works officials and a private contractor had qualified for witness protection and would boost the prosecution of others linked to the multibillion-peso kickback scheme.
Four state witnesses
Acting Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said during a press conference on Thursday that Sally Santos, owner of SYMS Construction Trading, former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former Bulacan First District Engineering Office chief Henry Alcantara and suspended National Capital Region district engineer Gerard Opulencia were admitted into the DOJ’s witness protection program.
He said the four would be “discharged from criminal liability” but only in the particular cases where they would be serving as state witnesses by providing evidence and testimony.
Bernardo opted for early retirement, Alcantara was dismissed and Opulencia was placed on “floating status” after they were all implicated in the flood control project anomalies.
Bernardo told a Senate hearing last year that he met Revilla in 2024 when he provided the former senator with a list of projects from Alcantara, from which the ex-senator allegedly took a cut, which he called “commitment.”
He said that the 25-percent “commitment,” amounting to P125 million, was collected by Alcantara and delivered by him to Revilla’s house in Cavite in December 2024. He said another P250 million was delivered by his aide to the former senator before the 2025 midterm elections.
But Revilla’s lawyer, Ramon Esguerra, rejected Bernardo’s claims. He told reporters last week that what the former public works official submitted was “just a tabular enumeration of projects allegedly suggested by the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways).”
Jinggoy denial
Estrada maintained that the allegation against him was baseless.
“He has consistently denied baseless allegations against him and remains committed to performing his duties with impartiality and integrity,” his lawyer, Bianca Soriano told reporters last year.
According to Vida, Bernardo and the three others handed over to the DOJ a total of about P316 million, which they had amassed as participants in the flood control irregularities. Acting on “good faith,” the four confessed that they had “illegally acquired” the loot, he said.
The DOJ official, however, stressed that restitution—or handing back ill-gotten wealth—was not the sole basis for granting the privileges of a state witness.
“This is in addition to the vital pieces of evidence they are providing to help us build a solid case against those who violated the law,” Vida said.
The narratives and evidence that the potential state witness can provide should be grounded as well on the “absolute necessity and materiality” of their cooperation to further bolster a case, he said.
Vida also warned that not everyone who steals public funds and hand them back would be absolved: “You can’t embezzle the people’s money and expect to be cleared of liability once you return the money. It’s not like that, you must be held accountable.”
P181 million returned
Alcantara, who was the first to give up his share of kickbacks, had returned around P181 million, the single biggest part of the total so far. He said he would hand over P119 million more to complete the P300 million in payoffs he admitted he had received from corrupt flood control projects in Bulacan.
The others returned comparatively smaller amounts: Opulencia, P80 million; Bernardo P35 million on Jan. 13; and Santos P20 million on Dec. 23.
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said a total of P1.5 billion is estimated to be collected from the four state witnesses in the coming weeks.
The recovered money, in cash and in check, are on top of the pieces of evidence the state witnesses turned over to the DOJ against those possibly behind the flood control scandal, said Vida.
2 applicants rejected
Two other key personalities in the flood control anomaly—former Bulacan first district assistant engineer Brice Hernandez and DPWH chief of construction Jaypee Mendoza–were denied as state witnesses.
Citing results of an evaluation, Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said that Hernandez and Mendoza did not qualify as state witnesses because the DOJ did not see the need to admit them into the program. He refused to disclose details.
Whether more people would be added to the current four remains to be seen as the DOJ would have to weigh the applications, Fadullon said.
There are so far 24 flood control cases in various stages of scrutiny by the DOJ.
Fadullon said that once the complaints in which Bernardo and the others are named respondents are filed in court, the charges against them would be dropped.
Of the four who were admitted to the witness protection program, Bernardo implicated the most number of officials and lawmakers in anomalous flood control projects.
In addition to Estrada, Revilla and Co, he testified in the Senate blue ribbon committee that Senators Mark Villar, former Senators Sonny Angara (now the education secretary), Grace Poe and Nancy Binay, former Representatives Mitch Cajayon-Uy (Caloocan) and Rida Robes (San Jose del Monte, Bulacan), and resigned Education Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar also allegedly received millions of pesos in kickbacks from flood control projects.
Bonoan implicated
Bernardo also implicated his former boss, resigned Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, and the late Public Works Undersecretary Catalina Cabral.
Every one of them, however, has denied any wrongdoing and his allegations.
Alcantara also implicated Revilla, Estrada, Co and Cajayon-Uy, and Sen. Joel Villanueva of pushing for budget insertions and getting kickbacks. Villanueva strong denied his allegation.
Meanwhile, Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said the Palace was still trying to verify Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s allegation that Bonoan gave the Sumbong Sa Pangulo website incorrect locations of alleged ghost projects.
Lacson said Bonoan intentionally sent wrong grid coordinates to mislead Malacañang and undermine the credibility of the President’s anticorruption website. —WITH REPORTS FROM LUISA CABATO AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
