Philippine flood-control projects substandard to mask kickbacks, Senate inquiry told

Two former engineers for the Philippines’ Public Works department testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on Tuesday, alleging that many flood-control projects, along with roads and other infrastructure in Bulacan province since 2019, were built to substandard specifications or overpriced to mask kickbacks to lawmakers and officials. The statements by Brice Ericson Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza come as part of a broader corruption scandal tied to flood-control works that has sparked protests in Metro Manila and the surrounding capital region. On Sunday, police quelled a rampage by black-clad demonstrators who hurled rocks, bottles and firebombs at anti-riot police and burned a container van barricade near the presidential palace. More than 200 people were arrested, and about 100 law-enforcement officers were injured in the disturbances.

Hernandez said that since 2019, infrastructure projects in Bulacan were not built according to the approved specifications. He said cheaper and longer-drying cement and other low-quality materials were used to offset kickbacks, typically about 20% of the project cost or higher, to corrupt legislators and officials. “Not one of the specifications in the plans were followed,” Hernandez testified. Mendoza said that while government buildings in Bulacan were constructed based on approved specifications, the costs were bloated to cover the kickbacks. Asked whether bulging budgets affected safety, Mendoza noted that some buildings were built to approved standards but that inflated costs served as a vehicle for the illicit payments. "All of those were not met," Hernandez added of the original project plans.

Manuel Bonoan, who recently resigned as Public Works secretary, told the inquiry he was unaware of the irregularities. "This is the first time that I have heard about all these shenanigans,” Bonoan said when asked to comment by senators. Hernandez and Mendoza have been dismissed from the DPWH district office in Bulacan after acknowledging their roles in the anomalies. They face criminal complaints and have sought government protection in exchange for testimony that could implicate powerful legislators and politicians. They also backed a statement by their former supervisor, engineer Henry Alcantara, who testified that Rep. Zaldy Co, an ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., received kickbacks through the legislator’s representatives in two hotels and in his upscale residence. Co, who has denied the allegations, said the charges were false and baseless and that he would respond in the proper forum.

Several House lawmakers, two senators and other public officials have been identified and implicated in the largescale corruption but have denied any wrongdoing. In Bulacan, beyond allegations of substandard infrastructure, some projects have been described as completed but non-existent, including one that Marcos said he uncovered during a recent personal inspection. The president first highlighted the flood-control corruption scandal in July in his annual State of the Nation address. He later directed an independent commission to investigate anomalies in what he said are 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to be undertaken since he took office in mid-2022. Marcos has described the alleged scale of corruption as “horrible” and said all those responsible should be prosecuted, including his political allies.