MANILA, Philippines — Dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer Brice Hernandez better have physical evidence like a notebook or ledger to prove his allegation that Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva got 30 percent kickbacks from flood control projects, Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon committee chair Panfilo Lacson said.
Lacson is expecting this much from Hernandez after the Senate leadership allowed the latter to leave Senate custody during the weekend under escort and go home to gather documents corroborating his claims.
Hernandez is detained at the Senate with his boss, dismissed district engineer Henry Alcantara, colleague Jaypee Santos and flood control contractor Curlee Discaya, for their alleged false testimonies before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
“The burden of proof is on Brice. He should present a notebook or ledger where he wrote the names of those who received the 30 percent commission he is alleging. Only then can he prove his claims,” Lacson said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Lacson lauded Hernandez’s willingness to surrender his luxury vehicles, the latest of which was a black GMC Yukon Denali SUV with a multimillion-peso price tag.
Hernandez surrendered the vehicle to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) where he gave a tell-all testimony on Friday.
“This is a display of goodwill, especially with his testimony that he is also willing to sign a waiver of his bank secrecy rights,” Lacson said, noting that this would show Hernandez’s bank transactions to prove the flow of alleged kickbacks.
Lacson dared Alcantara to join Hernandez in divulging his knowledge of the modus. Alcantara has so far denied having a hand in ghost or substandard flood control projects, even as his subordinates point to him as having a lion’s share of kickbacks.
“If Alcantara participates, then it will help in opening the Pandora’s box, or the can of worms,” Lacson said.
Estrada and Villanueva denied receiving kickbacks from flood control projects. Villanueva, meanwhile, denied having the power to request for unprogrammed appropriations, which are essentially standby funds seen as the new “pork barrel” that can only be tapped with new or excess government revenue.
Lacson said the budget documents already traced the P355 million worth of flood control projects in 2025 to Estrada, and the P600 million worth of projects in 2023 to Villanueva.
Estrada’s projects were itemized in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, while Villanueva’s was funded with unprogrammed appropriations in 2023.
Lacson said there was nothing illegal with his colleagues’ funding of the projects through budgetary insertions during closed-door bicameral conference committee meetings.
What would be illegal is if Hernandez’s allegation is proven true that the two senators received kickbacks, Lacson said.
Lacson also took lawmakers to task for using their position to push for pet projects: “The root of the problem is the lawmaker who tinkered with the budget. I agree with removing the unprogrammed funds, which is looking like the pork barrel of the Department of Budget and Management.” — Emmanuel Tupas