Three current and two former senators dipped their fingers into the flood control mess, a former undersecretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said in the Senate inquiry yesterday.
At the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the Floodgates of Corruption on Friday, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo made new revelations in his second supplemental affidavit, based on his personal knowledge and backed by official DPWH records.
He revealed that the collections and hand-offs to government officials, including legislators, were made in cash to ensure there would be no paper trail.
“I reiterate my deep remorse and guilt for what I have done, and I am now animated by an honest desire to help rectify the institutional defects in the system and operations not only of the DPWH but also other government agencies, and help in developing lasting and meaningful reforms,” Bernardo said.
Deal between kumpares
Bernardo alleged that his kumpare, former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, asked for a 25-percent commission from government projects itemized by then DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara and DPWH regional director Gerard Opulencia.
Revilla was allegedly allocated a total of P1.5 billion in projects, from which he received P250 million in commissions. Revilla did not win reelection in the May 2025 elections.
Bernardo also alleged that, through former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, former Senator Grace Poe received a 20-percent commission from the P500-million allocation for DPWH insertions in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The deal was allegedly arranged by Poe’s supposed staffer, identified by Bernardo as JY de la Rosa, sometime in 2024. Poe denied the allegation, saying she had never been involved in corruption and she could prove it.
Escudero share via Ngu
Bernardo said then Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero received his share of allocations through Maynard Ngu, who was earlier named as a contributor to Escudero’s campaign.
He said that before the 2022 elections, Ngu approached him and asked for his help in raising campaign funds.
He said he collated a list of DPWH flood control projects in 2024 in the provinces of Valenzuela, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro and Quezon City amounting to P1.4 billion, with a commitment of a 20-percent commission for Escudero, or P280 million.
Jinggoy: 25% OK with me
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Bernardo said, approached him to request that then DPWH Secretary Bonoan undertake several projects worth P500 million, which was trimmed to P450 million, sometime in 2023.
The request was facilitated by then DPWH Undersecretary Cathy Cabral and included in the 2024 NEP, with an 18-percent commitment of “kickbacks” for Estrada.
“Sen. Jinggoy called me sometime in the third quarter of 2024 and asked me to request the amount of P1 billion from Secretary Bonoan. Jinggoy said ‘just help me with that because I still have many people to assist in the election.’ I replied, ‘is 25 percent okay, Sen?’ Sen Jinggoy responded, ‘25 percent is okay,’” Bernardo said.
He said a total of P1.45 billion was inserted in the 2025 GAA, with a 25-percent commitment to Estrada, or roughly P360 million.
Estrada denied the allegations, stating: “The claim that I supposedly received a percentage from these projects is baseless, reckless, and unsupported by any credible evidence whatsoever.”
“These glaring inconsistencies, omissions, and later embellishments cast serious doubt on the truthfulness, reliability, and motives behind his statements. Affidavits that materially contradict each other cannot be the basis for any honest accusation. They collapse under the weight of their own inconsistency,” Estrada said.
Trail led to other projects
Bernardo claimed that funding for projects was “cleared by Undersecretary Cabral for approval by Secretary Mark Villar” during the previous administration.
“From time to time, Cabral would ask me to submit a detailed list of projects with lump sum fund allocations of the DPWH, which list she sometimes would approve herself or forward to Secretary Mark Villar for approval,” Bernardo said.
“Among others, this included EDSA and other major roads project allocations, maintenance of creeks and waterways, etc. The commission for these approved projects was 10 percent, divided as follows: 50 percent to Carlo Aguilar, presumably for Secretary Mark Villar; 25 percent for Undersecretary Cabral, 25 percent for me,” he said.
Bernardo’s allegation was vehemently denied by Villar, who called it a big lie.
“I ask the public to be discerning and not to rush to judgment based solely on a person’s affidavit, which may be manufactured or tailored to fit his or other people’s convenience. I stand by my untarnished record as a long-serving public servant as a representative, DPWH secretary, and senator of this republic,” Villar said in a statement on Friday.
Apart from the senators, Bernardo implicated former and present members of the House of Representatives, namely, resigned Ako Bicol Partylist Representative Elizaldy Co, former Caloocan Representative Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan Rep. Florida Robes, and some officials of the executive branch in the departments of Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Education, Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, and Transportation, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Coconut Authority.
Raps must be backed by proof
Meanwhile, Senate Blue Ribbon Chair Panfilo Lacson said he was not convinced by some of Bernardo’s testimony after the latter admitted he had not personally spoken with some of the lawmakers he had mentioned, namely, Poe and Villar, among others.
“That is all under consideration in the crafting of the committee report. That is what I’ve been telling him (Bernardo), it is hard to trace those without direct dealings or supporting documents,” he said.
Discayas give up ledger
When it came to the ledger surrendered by contractor-couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya, Lacson said it would undergo a countercheck.
Escorted by Philippine National Police and the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms personnel, the committee allowed the Discaya couple to leave the Senate premises and go home momentarily on Friday to retrieve the ledger, which supposedly contained details of payoffs and the names of politicians and DPWH officials involved in the flood control projects controversy.