Big fish exploiting WPP

Moves to have former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials placed under the Witness Protection Program (WPP) may be a strategy to spring one of the “big fish” in the “Floodgate” scandal.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said there were no indications that state witnesses Brice Ericson D. Hernandez, Henry Alcantara, or Jaypee Mendoza, all former district engineers in the DPWH Bulacan First District Engineering Office, were willing to cooperate to identify the ringleaders of the overpriced and non-existent flood control projects.

“That story was just spun by Ramon Esguerra, Senator Joel Villanueva’s lawyer, probably trying to get a better deal for (his client),” Remulla said.

“But if everyone becomes a state witness, then who goes to jail?” he asked. “Who will be held accountable? That’s not how the law works. You have to identify those who should truly be held liable.”

“We’re talking about corruption affecting the entire country and we’re filing cases with the Sandiganbayan on Monday,” he revealed.

“We’re filing cases. Just wait. The evidence is our priority. Whoever has solid prima facie evidence will be charged first. We’re raising the standard — we want a reasonable certainty of conviction, not just probable cause,” he said.

Plunder raps filed

On 15 January, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed plunder charges against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for their alleged roles in the multibillion-peso flood control anomalies.

The three plunder complaints now undergoing preliminary investigation are among the 24 criminal cases pending before the DoJ involving ghost flood control projects.

Remulla indicated that the filing on Monday would include a “big fish.”

Bonoan sues for extended US stay

Meanwhile, a key personality in the controversy, former Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan, remains in California, USA, and has requested that the government allow him to extend his stay there until mid-February, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said on Friday.

“His reason for being here is his wife is due for an eye operation, and it has been moved to February,” Romualdez said in a radio interview.

Bonoan, who is the subject of an immigration lookout bulletin order over ghost and substandard flood control projects under his watch, left the Philippines for the US on 11 November, supposedly to accompany his wife, who was to undergo a medical procedure.

He was scheduled to return on 17 December, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

Key officials, including Ombudsman Remulla, who is tasked with investigating the corruption scheme in flood control projects alongside the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, called for Bonoan’s deportation from the US for overstaying.

Romualdez, however, said Bonoan’s visa was still valid and he may be granted a six-month extension by the US State Department, particularly if he invokes medical reasons.

“I’m pretty sure that former secretary Bonoan is not overstaying. I think he has requested an extension of his stay in the United States from our Department of Justice until the middle of February,” he said.

Romualdez said he obtained the information by phone directly from the former DPWH secretary.

The envoy said he contacted Bonoan following an order from the Philippine government to find him in the US.

Bonoan resigned as secretary of the scandal-ridden DPWH on 31 August, at the start of the investigation into the multibillion-peso flood control scam. Former Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon succeeded him.

Bonoan has been linked to private contractors doing business with the government. His daughter, Fatima Gay Bonoan de la Cruz, is reportedly an executive of MBB Global Properties — a firm linked to the alleged ghost and anomalous flood control projects.