Ex-DPWH engineer returns P110M of P300M ‘kickbacks’
Former public works official Henry Alcantara handed over P110 million to the Department of Justice (DOJ), part of the P300 million in kickbacks he admitted taking from flood control projects in Bulacan, the first time restitution in the unraveling multibillion-peso corruption scandal has been made in cash.
Acting Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida told reporters at a press conference that the total restitution amount from Alcantara, the former chief of the Bulacan First District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), was based on the transactions the ex-official had declared in his sworn statement.
“This is recovery of the people’s money,” Vida said.
Was that all?
This is “money unlawfully obtained by Engr. Henry Alcantra,” he said.
The remaining P190 million will be returned also in cash to the government but Vida did not say when.
He said a DOJ panel was evaluating the amounts in kickbacks that Alcantara declared he had received, which he claimed were a percentage of larger payoffs. Vida did not specify to whom the money went and in what criminal cases these were included.
DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez said some of the cases mentioned in Alcantara’s sworn statement were criminal complaints pertaining to malversation, graft and perjury in flood control projects in Balagtas and Pandi, Bulacan.
Asked whether the P300 million that Alcantara disclosed was all that he had received as kickback, Vida indicated that it was still uncertain.
First to return cash
“We can’t say that’s it,” he said. “But he is not the DOJ’s only source of information. If there is an informant, you know, with verifiable information that he was involved in, or got some money elsewhere, then we will confront him on that information.”
The cash was loaded in one of three armored trucks.
The money—bundled in plastic, each containing P1 million in P1,000 denominations—was displayed on a table in one of the offices in the DOJ building.
Luxury vehicles
The money was later turned over to the Bureau of the Treasury, where representatives from the Land Bank of the Philippines will help count and validate the bills to determine that they are not counterfeit.
The treasury will then issue a certification and an official receipt that they received this particular amount from Alcantara through the DOJ, Vida said.
Alcantara is the first person linked to the flood control scandal to return kickbacks in cash to the government.
“Returning the money is a sign of good faith, proof of their desire to help the government,” Vida said.
Previously, engineer Brice Hernandez, Alcantara’s former deputy, and the wealthy Discaya contractor couple turned over their luxury vehicles to the government.
Alcantara is currently provisionally admitted to the Witness Protection Program (WPP), meaning that he only receives government protection. Once fully admitted, he will be immune from suit, but only in connection with the cases he would testify on.
Vida said, however, that restitution was only one factor in determining whether a person can become a state witness.
Under Republic Act No. 6981, or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, it is the court that has the final say on whether a person will be admitted as a state witness.
The law states that the DOJ shall issue a certification that a certain person is admitted to the WPP. The prosecutor shall then file a petition asking the court to discharge the person from the case.
Vida said the successful admission of a state witness hinges on their honesty and commitment to testify truthfully.
During a hearing in September called by the infrastructure committee of the House of Representatives, Alcantara admitted that he certified the completion of ghost flood control projects based only on reports made by his staff, saying there was “presumed regularity” in the documents they submitted.
Bulacan projects
During the hearing Manila Rep. Joel Chua pointed to a P94.6-million substandard river protection structure in Calumpit, Bulacan, awarded to St. Timothy Construction Co. owned by the Discayas approved by Alcantara.
Alcantara also approved a P74.6-million flood mitigation structure in Calumpit, which was awarded to Wawao Builders.
He green-lighted a P55-million reinforced concrete river wall in Barangay Piel, Baliwag, Bulacan, which was awarded to SYMS Construction Trading.
During his inspection of this project on Aug. 20, President Marcos described it as nonexistent, or a “ghost project.”
Former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan later removed Alcantara from his post as officer in charge assistant regional director of Region 4A, where he had been transferred prior to the exposure of the anomalies in flood control projects. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
