FORMER presidential assistant for the Visayas Terence Calatrava, brother-in-law of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, has denied allegations that he pocketed kickbacks from government infrastructure projects, after contractors under Senate investigation tagged him among beneficiaries of supposed flood-control payoffs.
His denial came as other testimonies widened the corruption probe: a former DPWH engineer accused Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva of receiving huge “commissions” from Bulacan flood-control funds, while the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Audit (COA) recommended criminal charges against three construction firms for ghost or substandard projects.
Calatrava’s wife is the sister of Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez, wife of the Speaker.
WHAT HAPPENED. The controversy began when Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, Bulacan-based contractors now facing a Senate Blue Ribbon inquiry, alleged that lawmakers and officials demanded 10 to 25 percent cuts from flood-control contracts. They claimed to have ledgers and vouchers to prove payouts.
The names of Calatrava, Romualdez and other lawmakers surfaced during the hearing on Monday, Sept. 8.
Calatrava served as undersecretary at the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav) from late 2022 to mid-2025, tasked mainly with coordinating national programs in the Visayas. The Discayas insisted that he was among those who benefitted from “cuts,” though they provided no direct evidence linking him.
A parallel inquiry in the House of Representatives took testimony from Brice Ericson Hernandez, a former assistant district engineer in Bulacan, on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Hernandez alleged that Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva funneled hundreds of millions of pesos in flood-control funds into projects in their home provinces, only to collect 30 percent kickbacks once allocations appeared in the budget.
He described in detail how DPWH officials, including a district engineer and construction division chief, delivered bags of cash to Villanueva’s house in Bocaue and to Estrada through trusted drivers. Hernandez himself admitted to handling hundreds of millions in cash, some of which allegedly came from Syms Construction Trading — a firm later exposed for a P55-million “ghost project” in Baliuag, Bulacan.
Meanwhile, COA’s fraud audit, ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., found ghost and overpriced works in at least five Bulacan projects. One P55-million “completed” river wall in Baliuag turned out not to exist at all when Marcos himself visited the site.
REBUTTALS. Calatrava told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday that he never met the Discayas and rejected what he called “false and malicious accusations.” Speaker Romualdez, for his part, also denied the allegations.
The Cebuano businessman explained that Opav is a coordinating agency and has no budgetary authority and does not handle or release funds. He added that Opav has no role in the bidding or implementation of infrastructure projects.
He said his tenure was free of controversies that would compromise his integrity.
“It is therefore incomprehensible why individuals with whom I have no personal or professional ties would drag my name into this issue,” said Calatrava. “It is evident that the Discayas are being used to advance a scripted narrative designed to malign and destroy the reputations of certain political opponents.”
Prior to his appointment, he was a businessman and regional director for the Tingog Party-list. His tenure involved coordinating disaster response and infrastructure initiatives, including maritime and flood-mitigation projects.
Estrada, for his part, vehemently denied Hernandez’s claims and even challenged him to a public lie detector test. Villanueva has not engaged as publicly but has consistently rejected involvement in corruption.
DPWH officials, including engineer Henry Alcantara, whom Hernandez accused of being a “chief implementor” of the scheme, have likewise denied wrongdoing. Alcantara even sparred with Hernandez during hearings, disputing whether he had ties to Estrada at all.
WHAT’S AT STAKE. The accusations cut deep into one of the country’s most politically sensitive spending programs. Flood-control projects command tens of billions of pesos annually, justified by the worsening climate crisis and repeated flooding disasters in provinces like Bulacan, Pampanga, and Cebu.
If these funds are indeed being siphoned through “commissions,” the consequences are grave: communities left unprotected from floods, taxpayers footing the bill for unfinished or ghost projects, and national trust in institutions eroded.
In Cebu, the Discayas’ reach has already been known. Their firms reportedly handled a P395.8-million drainage project in Liloan, a seawall in Oslob, and bulk water projects in Alegria and Malabuyoc. These local projects, though separate from the Bulacan cases, show how deeply connected the contractors were to government works nationwide.
For the Marcos administration, the scandal challenges its credibility on reform. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon has promised a purge of corrupt contractors and officials, declaring that “the agency cannot move forward unless we purge it of wrongdoing.” But whether his vow translates into accountability for big names remains to be seen.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET. The central question is proof. The Discayas and Hernandez have made serious accusations, but the supposed ledgers, vouchers, and cash trail have yet to be authenticated. Until the Senate and House secure and verify these records, the allegations remain contested.
It also remains unclear how high the alleged kickback network goes. If local DPWH offices are implicated, how much knowledge did central officials have? Are the senators and congressmen directly involved, or are middlemen exploiting their names to collect money?
And crucially, will the Ombudsman move beyond contractors and file charges against politicians themselves, or will accountability stop at the private firms and mid-level officials?
THE POLITICS BEHIND IT. The controversy cuts across party lines. Those accused include both administration allies and opposition figures. This has fueled speculation that testimonies are being used as political weapons, with whistleblowers naming enemies of one camp while sparing allies.
Calatrava himself argued that his name was dragged in to smear political opponents. Critics warn, however, that dismissing the scandal as pure politics risks letting genuine corruption slip by unchecked.
For Congress, the case could become a test of self-policing. With several sitting lawmakers accused, will they allow investigations to proceed impartially, or will political alliances dictate the outcome?
WHAT’S NEXT. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will continue hearings, with lawmakers pressing for access to the Discayas’ financial records. The House has pledged protection for Hernandez, despite him facing contempt charges in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman is reviewing the COA’s findings and could soon decide whether to file criminal charges against contractors. Whether those charges will expand to cover politicians remains uncertain.
For the public, the scandal is far from over. As more names surface, the central issue remains: will this case end with real accountability, or will it join the long list of unresolved corruption probes in Philippine history? / EHP, TPM / SunStar Philippines