The Department of Justice (DOJ) has served subpoenas to the respondents in the five alleged ghost flood control projects in Bulacan, acting Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida confirmed on Monday.
‘Some of the subpoenas have been personally served in the initial five cases wherein the DOJ has been deputized by the Office of the Ombudsman. That process will start. The respondents and charges have been identified, and soon there will be more,’ Vida told reporters in an interview in Pasay City.
According to Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon, the preliminary investigation of the five cases is scheduled on Nov. 10.
Fadullon previously disclosed that the respondents in the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan include former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza.
‘The five cases are focusing on the participation of the District Engineering Office of Bulacan 1. So they are the subject of these cases,’ Fadullon said, adding that the first set of cases also involved a contractor who lent their license to secure a certain flood control project.
The DOJ initially turned over the five cases involving malversation, falsification by public officers, perjury, and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices, to the Office of the Ombudsman in October for assessment and review.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla returned the cases, however, to the DOJ to avoid repetition of processes.
‘The five flood control cases filed by the DOJ, we are returning them to them already. They will conduct PI [preliminary investigation], they will work on that, and they will file the cases since they have witnesses, so the process won’t repeat here,’ Remulla said.
DOJ spokesperson Raphael Niccolo Martinez earlier said the agency was working on a one-month period to wrap up its preliminary investigation that will determine if there are sufficient grounds to file the cases in court.
Amid public outcry seeking accountability through immediate filing of cases in court, Vida appealed for patience, saying that the DOJ is evaluating the cases cautiously to ensure that the rule of law and due process are observed.
‘The call is for us to follow the process, no matter how slow it is. The process is moving, but we are trying to move it in the right direction so that what our countrymen hope for can be achieved,’ he said.