Former DPWH Bulacan engineers testified in a House hearing on flood control projects. According to Brice Hernandez, their boss, district engineer Henry Alcantara, allegedly ordered the collection of money for kickbacks, allegedly involving Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Joel Villanueva.
Hernandez showed photos of piles of P1,000 and P500 bills, spread out and allegedly distributed to proponents. He said this was done at a “tambayan” near the office but not at the DPWH itself.
Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza also released chat logs from Viber, which allegedly show the conversation between Alcantara and Villanueva. The message contained Villanueva's complaint about the DPWH and the budget for flood control projects. At the end, the senator allegedly mentioned "there is a backlog with DPWH sakin."
Also included in the evidence is a 2022 iMessage conversation with Estrada's staff. According to Hernandez, there was a project that was passed on to a contractor. But Alcantara defended himself, saying it was all "just a request" from the senators and that he had no personal connection to them.
Alcantara refused to sign a bank secrecy waiver, although he said he was willing to release his SALN. Meanwhile, Hernandez agreed to open his bank records and phone exchanges. The House Infra Committee is still investigating the anomaly in the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan.
