ICI implicates senators, ex-lawmakers in multibillion-peso flood control kickback scheme

Several incumbent and former lawmakers, along with a Commission on Audit (COA) official and a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary, have been implicated by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) in an alleged multibillion-peso bribery and kickback scheme involving government-funded flood control projects.

In an interim report submitted to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, the ICI recommended further investigation and possible prosecution of Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, former Rep. Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, and COA Commissioner Mario Lipana.

The ICI, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Andres Reyes Jr., based its report on sworn testimonies from DPWH engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Ericson Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza, who detailed how legislators allegedly demanded or received “percentages” of project budgets in exchange for facilitating budget insertions and contractor endorsements.

Based on the engineers’ accounts, lawmakers were allegedly paid between 10 and 30 percent of total project funds. The scheme reportedly involved advance payments from contractors in return for assurances that they would be awarded projects under the DPWH’s flood control program.

In their affidavits, the witnesses named Villanueva, Estrada, Co, Cajayon-Uy, and Lipana, among others, as recipients of cash payoffs coursed through DPWH officials and middlemen. The report stated that former Undersecretary Bernardo acted as a key intermediary in collecting and distributing funds.

According to Alcantara, in 2022 Senator Villanueva allegedly received ₱150 million through an aide identified only as “Peng” at a residence in Bocaue, Bulacan, in connection with ₱600 million worth of flood control projects.

Alcantara and Hernandez also alleged that ₱355 million in project allocations were linked to Estrada’s office in 2024 and 2025.

The testimonies described multiple cash deliveries to former congressman Co’s staff at his residences in Taguig and Pasig, sometimes involving millions of pesos packed in suitcases. Between 2022 and 2025, Co was said to have endorsed over ₱35 billion worth of flood control projects, allegedly receiving around 25 percent in kickbacks.

COA Commissioner Lipana was likewise accused of benefiting from projects that reportedly protected properties he owned in Bulacan, while Cajayon-Uy, when she was a DPWH undersecretary, allegedly obtained ₱411 million worth of projects in exchange for a 10 percent “SOP” delivered at a Quezon City restaurant.

The ICI said the respondents could be liable for direct and indirect bribery, violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and plunder, with the alleged sums far exceeding the ₱50 million threshold under the Plunder Law.

It urged the Ombudsman to initiate criminal proceedings and noted that the revelations “at least merit a thorough investigation into the matter.”

The ICI added that its findings were preliminary and could be modified as more evidence emerges.

Neither the named legislators nor their offices have issued statements on the report as of press time.