An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on anomalies in infrastructure projects will include former public works chief and now Sen. Mark Villar, his senator-sister Camille as well as their mother, Cynthia – a former senator – specifically over P18.5 billion in infrastructure contracts in Las Piñas bagged by a close relative.
‘They’re related interests. They have the same interest – it’s one relationship, one family, first degree of consanguinity, to the fourth degree of consanguinity or even third degree. From senator to the contractor is third degree,’ DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.
He said Mark Villar will be the focus of the DOJ probe on the P18.5 billion worth of projects awarded to a contractor who is his first cousin.
‘That’s prohibited interest,’ Remulla said.
He said the contracts bagged by the senator’s first cousin were for flood control, buildings and road projects.
The DOJ chief said the investigation will cover the period when Mark served as DPWH secretary during the Duterte administration and when he is already a lawmaker.
Remulla made it clear that the investigation on the Villar family is just one of the 67 cases being looked into by Congress.
Invitations to the Villars and to other people, he said, will come later as authorities work to ‘build up everything.’
Remulla said the DOJ continues its case build-up on lawmakers, private contractors and DPWH officials implicated in alleged anomalous infrastructure projects.
‘We have to do it. Bid-rigging happens everywhere. Impunity of corruption, kasi wala na nga nahuhuli (because nobody gets arrested),’ he said.