The situation, in brief
No infrastructure project under their watch was spared from kickbacks — whether it was a classroom, flood control project, or a highway. This was the admission of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez during a Senate…
No infrastructure project under their watch was spared from kickbacks — whether it was a classroom, flood control project, or a highway.
This was the admission of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez during a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Tuesday, September 23.
Pressed by Senator Bam Aquino, Hernandez testified that every project his office handled from 2019 up to the present was substandard because funds were siphoned off through “porsyentuhan” or kickback-sharing.
“May plano ang DPWH, mayroong budget iyan, pero dahil ang budget, pinaghati-hatian ninyo, sa dulo, walang project na maayos na dumaan sa inyo? Iyan ang testimony niyo” Aquino said. “Anim na taon, walang maayos na proyekto dyan?”
“Wala pong tumama kung ano po ‘yung naka-specify sa plano,” Hernandez said. Asked by Aquino if this included all types of projects, he confirmed: “Lahat po, your Honor.”
Aquino then asked if there was even a single project free from corruption: “Mayroon ba kayong proyekto na walang porsyentuhan, na maayos, matino, meron ba?”
Hernandez’s answer was categorical: “Wala po, your Honor.”
The assistant district engineer clarified that his testimony referred specifically to their jurisdiction in Bulacan’s 1st District, starting from the tenure of then-district engineer Henry Alcantara in 2019.
His statements added to the explosive revelations already aired in the inquiry, where Alcantara earlier implicated senators and senior DPWH officials in alleged budget insertions and kickbacks.
Alcantara had named Senators Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla as allegedly receiving kickbacks from infrastructure projects. But Alcantara clarified that he had no direct dealings with Villanueva, Estrada, or Revilla, but said transactions were coursed through their staff.
