Five former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) personnel tagged in allegedly anomalous flood projects squandered more than P950 million in casino losses, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said on Tuesday.
Lacson said dismissed Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara, along with Assistant Engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig, and Edrick San Diego, posed as contractors during their casino dealings.
“On top of their multi-million peso wristwatches, signature clothes and sneakers, and lavish lifestyles, these five erstwhile DPWH officials of the Bulacan First District Engineering Office gained themselves a moniker: BGC Boys—not Bonifacio Global City Boys, but Bulacan Group of Contractors, as they have been known to casino employees,” the senator said in a privilege speech.
“They lost a staggering P950 million in casinos,” he said, citing records from 13 casinos in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Pampanga.
He alleged that Hernandez visited a casino on Sept. 1, the same day the Senate investigated alleged flood control anomalies. Lacson added that three other “BGC Boys” were at casinos as recently as August.
“While Bulacan residents remain underwater because of corruption—and even after the President himself has exposed their wrongdoing—the BGC Boys continue squandering public funds in casinos,” Lacson said.
Lacson said he had submitted the group’s names and aliases to the Anti-Money Laundering Council. His office, he added, uncovered hundreds of pages of documents pointing to rigged or questionable biddings, impossible timelines for project completion, manipulated progress reports, and falsified public documents.
“These are not clerical errors; these are fingerprints of a system perfected over the years to pocket billions of funds,” Lacson said.
As an example, he cited SYMS Construction, which secured a P92.58-million project on Dec. 17, 2024, reported 46 percent completion just two days later, and received the first tranche of payment within the same month. The firm reported 89 percent completion by March 2025 and received a second tranche, despite using duplicate photos in its progress reports. A site inspection later confirmed the project remained incomplete.
“SYMS Construction seems complicit in broad daylight robbery—not once, but twice,” Lacson said.
He also pointed to IM Construction Corporation, which allegedly received four payments for a P92.5-million flood gate and pumping station despite duplicate documentation. In another case, Wawao Builders was identified as the winning bidder even before the official notice of award and reported 50 percent completion barely a week after receiving the notice to proceed.
The revelations came as Lacson formally assumed leadership of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, replacing Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the chairmanship was “reserved for the majority,” with Lacson expected to head the ongoing probe into flood control corruption, dubbed “Philippines Under Water.”
In the same speech, Lacson accused Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral of lying about her role in early budget insertions for 2026. He presented a screenshot of a message allegedly sent by Cabral to Sotto shortly after the latter’s election to the Senate in May.
“The undersecretary I mentioned, who offered our Senate President to make insertions in the 2026 NEP, strongly denied it to her new boss, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon, and even directly to his face, but she was lying outright,” Lacson said.
He added: “She should know that I never speak without evidence.”
The screenshot showed Cabral asking Sotto if he had priority projects for review to include in the budget. Lacson said Sotto declined the offer. “Here is the receipt: ‘So I can include it in the NEP, sir,’ her words, not mine. As lawyers say, res ipsa loquitur—the thing speaks for itself,” he said.
