Moro-moro from the start

Moro-moro from the start | Daily Tribune

The retraction of their statements by ex-DPWH engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza represents a significant setback in the ongoing investigations into the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal, particularly in Bulacan province.

Allegations of a grand design to deceive the public and hide the identities of the real perpetrators behind the perversion of the national budget of the past three years were buttressed by the move of the two former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers to walk back their statements.

What could be truer?

When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. exposed the substandard flood control projects, many hoped the rampant corruption in government would end.

Instead, what unfolded were maneuvers Filipinos were so used to — like the steps taken during the pork barrel scandal to divert attention away from the allies of the Noynoy Aquino administration.

Hernandez, the former assistant district engineer at DPWH’s Bulacan First District Engineering Office, and Mendoza, construction chief in the same office, are key witnesses in the latest corruption scandal.

The original affidavits of the two, submitted in September and October 2025, detailed their roles in overseeing anomalous projects and implicated higher ranking DPWH officials, including then District Engineer Henry Alcantara, and members of Congress, in kickback schemes.

Their statements were crucial because they provided insider accounts of how projects were manipulated by failing to follow specifications, inflating costs to cover 30 to 40-percent kickbacks, and certifying as completed unfinished and nonexistent work to collect payment.

Their testimonies supported the narrative of systemic corruption. Bulacan alone received nearly 45 percent of Central Luzon’s P548-billion flood control budget since 2022, yet many projects failed during typhoons due to substandard construction, exacerbating flooding and sparking public outrage and protests.

The unfortunate twist is that both recently indicated they wanted to retract their statements, hinting that their affidavits may have been fed to them.

The pair cited violations of their right against self-incrimination and pressure applied during the signing.

Reading between the lines, however, reveals an orchestrated or “scripted” process where their statements were made a condition for their admission to the Witness Protection Program (WPP), which failed to materialize.

Hernandez and Mendoza applied for the WPP in 2025, but an evaluation by the Department of Justice (DoJ) deemed them ineligible, likely because their roles of overseeing the implementation of the corrupted projects made them the “most guilty” participants rather than minor figures, which disqualified them from immunity.

The withdrawal of their statements, placed alongside recent developments, fuels suspicions of a coordinated coverup to protect the masterminds of the corruption.

The flood control mess has exposed a network involving contractors, DPWH officials, lawmakers and Palace officials, with irregularities dating back to past administrations but escalating under Marcos.

The two DPWH officials’ move added a layer of intrigue to its potential link to perceived efforts to cover up the truth behind the death of another agency official, former Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, on 18 December, who fell down a 30-meter ravine along Kennon Road in Benguet.

Like Hernandez and Mendoza, Cabral had testified in Senate hearings in September 2025 amid allegations of her role in project insertions and mismanagement.

There were suggestions she may have been silenced to prevent her from turning state’s evidence.

In sum, nothing is as it seems. What has mostly transpired appears designed to cover someone’s tracks.