Sally Santos, the owner and general manager of SYMS Construction Trading, arrived at the Department of Justice (DOJ) office on Friday to apply and undergo evaluation for the witness protection program (WPP).
Santos is among the many resource persons who testified at the recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings on the multibillion-peso anomalous flood control projects involving the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), government contractors, and politicians.
According to her legal counsel Bernard Jonathan Gatchalian, Santos is now provisionally admitted to the WPP.
“We are happy that we are provisionally admitted now into the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ. We are hoping to be given permanent witness protection program,” Gatchalian told justice reporters.
SYMS Construction Trading is behind some of the ghost and substandard infrastructure projects in Bulacan, which President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. inspected last month.
The DOJ has recently announced that six other key figures in the flood control corruption scandal are considered “protected witnesses” and are undergoing evaluation after applying to the WPP.
These include former DPWH Undersecretary for Operations Roberto Bernardo, dismissed district engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, as well as contractors Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II and his wife Cezarah Rowena (nicknamed ‘Sarah’). — With Pot Chavez
