(UPDATE) TWO former district engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have been fired, as the agency widened its purge of officials and contractors linked to alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon confirmed Friday that former Bulacan 1st District assistant engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza were dismissed, following the sacking earlier of former regional director Henry Alcantara.
“Alcantara, Hernandez and Mendoza have already been dismissed from the DPWH. For others, the dismissal process has already started,” Dizon said in a radio interview.
He also said that four contracting firms — St. Timothy Construction, SYMS Construction Trading, Wawao Builders and IM Construction — have been blacklisted by the DPWH.
On Thursday, the DPWH filed graft and malversation complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against the dismissed officials and blacklisted contractors, accusing them of conspiring in certifying defective or nonexistent flood control projects as completed.
Hernandez and Mendoza testified in a House hearing that Alcantara funneled kickbacks from Bulacan projects to Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada.
Dizon said he will meet with the Anti-Money Laundering Council on Monday to discuss the freezing of assets and forfeiture proceedings against those implicated in the kickback scheme.
He stressed that accountability should extend beyond court cases or jail time: “We are talking about billions worth of projects here. That money needs to be returned.”
Dizon said the DPWH is preparing a second batch of complaints against officials and contractors in Oriental Mindoro, where he personally inspected projects that were substandard or missing despite being listed in the 2024 national budget.
Among the projects are the dike and esplanade along the Panggalaan and Mag-asawang Tubig rivers, worth a combined P750 million.
Construction firms linked to spouses Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” and Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II — St. Timothy and Elite General Contractor and Development Corp. — are also facing a perpetual ban from all government projects.
The Pasay Regional Trial Court has ordered the Senate to respond to a writ of amparo filed by Hernandez within 72 hours.
The petition, filed by Hernandez’s wife, Rica Fausta Abacan-Hernandez, alleges that the Senate, through its acts or omissions, violated or threatened her husband’s rights.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the agency is preparing its own set of criminal charges against individuals linked to the anomalous flood control projects, following preliminary findings by the National Bureau of Investigation.
“We are studying if plunder charges can be filed. Malversation is also likely as the investigation moves forward,” he said.
Remulla said the Department of Justice is open to providing state-witness protection for implicated personalities, except for Sarah and Curlee Discaya.
He said the couple had not been fully forthcoming during legislative inquiries. “If they want to become state witnesses, they should tell the whole truth, not selective confessions,” he said.
Remulla added that DPWH officials and employees may be considered for witness status if they cooperate. “We will evaluate everybody,” he said.
Asked about Hernandez’s allegations implicating senators and DPWH officials, Remulla said investigators would pursue all leads but warned that attempts to stonewall would have consequences.
In a related development, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Friday announced it is recalling labor attaché Macy Monique Maglanque, who was assigned to Los Angeles in the United States, to face an investigation after she was mentioned by Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman and Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac confirmed the naming of Maglanque in a video posted on the agency’s Facebook page.
Maglanque was connected to MBB Global Projects, one of the firms linked to anomalous flood control projects.
“We have issued a recall order for Labor Attaché Maglanque so that she may return home and personally face the investigation. No sanction has been imposed yet, but it is important that [Maglanque] herself should respond to the questions — not only from the DMW but also from other necessary investigations,” Cacdac stated in Filipino.
“Since she was named in the privilege speech of the Senate Blue Ribbon Chair, it is our duty to follow due process and comply with the directive of our President [Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] to hold officials accountable should there be any allegations of wrongdoing or corruption,” he added.
In a privilege speech earlier this week, Lacson said Maglanque was president of MBB Global Properties Corp., based on the firm’s 2024 general information sheet.
Maglanque is the daughter of Candaba, Pampanga Mayor Rene Maglanque, who, according to Lacson, was a former president of Globalcrete Builders, a construction company that allegedly secured P2.195 billion in flood control projects from 2018 to 2024 in Bulacan.
On Friday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it is ready to provide assistance to DPWH in inspecting anomalous flood control projects, if requested.
“The AFP, through the Corps of Engineers and in coordination with other units, remains ready to provide support when directed,” AFP spokesman Col. Francel Padilla said in a statement.
Dizon had raised the possibility of tapping the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in inspecting questionable infrastructure projects.
PNP Public Information Office chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said in an interview the PNP has yet to receive a formal request from the DPWH.
Dizon will head to Baguio City next week to join Mayor Benjamin Magalong in checking flood control projects in the city and in La Union.
