THE Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman the filing of plunder charges against Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, along with several others, over their alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects.
In a press conference Wednesday, October 29, 2025, ICI Chairman Andres Reyes Jr. said plunder, bribery, and corruption complaints were also recommended against resigned Ako Bicol party-list Representative Elizalde “Zaldy” Co, Caloocan Second District Representative Mary Mitzi “Mitch” Cajayon-Uy, former Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, and Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana.
Reyes said the recommendation was based on witness testimonies and accounts regarding the anomalous flood control projects under the Bulacan First Engineering Office.
“Based on the testimonies and narrations of witnesses, the scheme starts from the proponent—either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives—who will inform Engineer (Henry) Alcantara that he or she has a budget allocated for an infrastructure project,” he said.
“Additionally, the scheme always involves flood control projects because the kickback ranges from 25 percent to 30 percent—higher than the 10 percent typically taken from other projects,” he added.
During a September 23 hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on anomalous flood control projects, dismissed Bulacan First District Engineer Henry Alcantara claimed he delivered around P8.75 billion to Co from 2022 to 2025 as commissions for funneling funds for infrastructure projects, mostly flood control works in Bulacan’s 1st District Engineering Office (DEO).
He said Bernardo, on the other hand, began releasing funds to the Bulacan 1st DEO in 2022 under an arrangement that provided a 25 percent commission to the project proponent.
Alcantara said he was not aware of who the proponents were and that he delivered the payments directly to Bernardo.
While denying any direct transactions with Estrada, Alcantara said that during the 2024 budget hearing, Bernardo asked him if he needed more projects funded, noting that the senator still had P355 million available for allocation.
Alcantara also claimed he delivered P150 million to Villanueva to address his request for a P1.5-billion multipurpose building project in Bulacan that was not fully approved by Bernardo.
He, however, admitted that Villanueva was not aware that the money came from flood control project allocations.
Alcantara further implicated Cajayon-Uy, saying she received 10 percent of the P411 million inserted into the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that was downloaded to the Bulacan 1st DEO.
In another hearing, Bernardo confirmed working with Alcantara to collect and deliver kickbacks to the project proponents.
Aside from the named officials, Bernardo also identified former Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and former Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Nancy Binay as being involved in the illegal scheme. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)