In a sworn statement on Tuesday, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan first district engineer Henry Alcantara directly implicated former House Committee on Appropriations chairman and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co in the multibillion-peso anomalous flood control projects.
Alcantara testified at the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, where he acknowledged deeply entrenched corruption in the DPWH involving his “boss,” former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, and several politicians including Co.
“In this statement, I am going to mention several people, and I apologize to these people but I need to tell the truth. My only request is for our good chairman (Panfilo Lacson) and Justice Secretary (Jesus Crispin Remulla) to protect my family,” the dismissed DPWH official said in Tagalog.
Alcantara revealed that Co, who is the co-founder of Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., inserted P35.24-billion worth of projects between 2022 to 2025. He accused him of facilitating billions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects in exchange for commissions.
The former district engineer said he met Co in September 2021 at Shangri-La in Bonifacio Global City, where they first discussed funding for Bulacan.
“I submitted a proposal on flood control projects. These eventually appeared in the 2022 General Appropriations Act, amounting to ₱519 million for six projects,” Alcantara said.
From 2022 to 2025, Alcantara alleged that Co pushed at least 426 projects in Bulacan worth more than ₱35 billion. He said the breakdown included ₱519 million in 2022, ₱12 billion in 2023, ₱14.19 billion in 2024 and ₱7.385 billion in 2025.
According to Alcantara, Co initially demanded a 20 percent cut per project in 2022, later increasing the rate to 25 percent from 2023 to 2025. He added that payments were sometimes staggered depending on the budget process and often delivered through intermediaries.
Alcantara also linked Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, former senator Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr., and other officials to the scheme. He testified that Bernardo played a central role in channeling project funds and securing his appointment as Bulacan district engineer in 2019.
Alcantara claimed he personally delivered cash to Bernardo in discreet locations, including a hotel parking lot in Manila. He also said Revilla benefited from ₱300 million in 2024 flood control allocations for projects along the Angat and Guiguinto rivers.
Estrada allegedly had ₱355 million worth of pumping station projects lined up in 2024, though Alcantara maintained he had no direct contact with the senator. Villanueva, meanwhile, reportedly requested ₱1.5 billion for a multipurpose building in 2022, but only ₱600 million was approved.
The former engineer also presented photographic evidence of large cash deliveries, some allegedly prepared for Co. The Ako Bicol party-list representative and the other lawmakers named in the testimony denied Alcantara’s claims.
“If we carefully review what transpired this morning, it was clear from Mr. Alcantara’s own statements that I did not request any flood control project. I have no knowledge and was never informed about those projects. My request were for multipurpose buildings for my constituents in Bulacan, not flood control,” Villanueva said.
Estrada also pushed back against further insinuations linking him to another corruption scandal after he and Revilla survived the pork barrel scam, which affected their political careers in the past. “I am more than ready to dismantle the baseless lies being peddled in the Blue Ribbon Committee, come hell or high water,” he said.
Co, for his part, simply dismissed the accusations. He described them as “false and ‘baseless,” adding “I reserve my right to respond to these allegations at the proper time before the proper forum.”
Alcantara’s statements were later confirmed by one of his assistants, Brice Hernandez, who admitted that their team did not deliver quality infrastructure projects because of the “kickbacks” committed to corrupt politicians, who they refer to “proponents.”
“I saw him (Co) in Shangri-La. He was talking to boss (Henry Alcantara). We delivered cash, but we did not directly see Cong. Zaldy. Instead, we were asked to speak with his aide named ‘Paul,’” Hernandez told the senators.
“There were a lot of suitcases of money. I guess they were about a billion. It was kept in vans; we used about six or seven vans to deliver (the cash). One suitcase contained about P50-million. There were more than 20 suitcases,” he added at the interpellation of Senator Erwin Tulfo.
Alcantara was later excused by the senators and went to the Department of Justice (DOJ) office in Manila, where he is expected to apply for the witness protection program (WPP) of the government.
Remulla, who was also present at the hearing earlier, reiterated that anyone who applies for the WPP will be evaluated accordingly.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
