Alcantara: Estrada got P213M
In one instance, P213 million in kickbacks from infrastructure projects was delivered to the residence of former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who was then Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s contact in the DPWH.
This was revealed by former DPWH district engineer Henry Alcantara who testified yesterday before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division hearing the plunder and graft cases against Estrada.
He said the amount was taken from projects funded under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and implemented by the Bulacan 1st and 3rd District Engineering Offices.
He said the lists of projects amounting to P855 million were forwarded to Bernardo before the congressional bicameral conference committee (bicam) began deliberating on the national budget.
Estrada was allegedly allocated a kickback amounting to 25 percent of the budget earmarked for a particular project, Alcantara said Bernardo told him.
During cross-examination by Estrada’s lawyer, Alcantara clarified that engineer Carlo Rivera was tasked with collating the projects and collecting the contractor commitment fees, admitting that he had no personal participation in the matter.
Initially, he said, he was only supposed to deliver kickbacks for projects in his district. Bernardo, however, reportedly instructed him to bring along the fees drawn from the Bulacan 1st district.
Alcantara said he instructed his driver, Edrick San Diego, to deliver the boxes of cash to the Diamond Hotel, where the staff of Bernardo were waiting.
He later stated that, in his office, the only individuals who knew the boxes contained cash were Rivera and San Diego.
‘Irregular’ bidding practice
Another matter Alcantara was questioned on pertained to the alleged bidding scheme established within his district, which he said was managed by a certain Linda Macanas.
Macanas, he said, was the coordinator of the bidding process at the Bulacan 1st district engineering office even before he joined the office in 2019.
The witness said the coordinator was not a DPWH employee, but the office’s employees were familiar with her.
Alcantara answered yes when Fifth Division Associate Justice Gener Gito asked whether he believed the setup was “irregular.”
He admitted, however, that he took no action to change the seemingly established practice, and his staff notified him that it was the system they would adopt.
Estrada’s bail hearing is set to resume on 19 November, with Rivera and San Diego set to testify.
The senator is currently detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas along with former DPWH engineers Denryl Caesar Cortuna, Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales, his co-accused in the case.
The Ombudsman has charged Estrada with plunder and graft over allegations that he received P573 million in kickbacks from the infrastructure projects.