The Independent Commission for Infrastructure submitted its third report to the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday, November 4, flagging a P72.3-million so-called “ghost” flood control project in Bulacan that was reportedly paid in full despite not being built at its intended site.
The project in question was implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District Engineering Office through contractor Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc, according to a briefer shared by the ICI and the actual interim report it submitted to the Ombudsman.
According to the ICI, the project was among numerous so-called “ghost” flood control works that were later discovered to be entirely non-existent. The Commission said the involved DPWH officials and private individuals “orchestrated a scheme designed to deceive the Government and unlawfully appropriate public funds for a fictitious project.”
Project paid but not built at approved site
Project documents show that in February 2025, the DPWH Bulacan office, represented by District Engineer Henry Alcantara, entered into a P69.48-million agreement with Topnotch for the construction of a 152-linear meter concrete slope protection structure using steel sheet piles.
A Certificate of Completion was issued in May 2025 stating the project had been “satisfactorily completed” based on a Final Completion Inspection Report. The government released P67.85 million in payments to the contractor between March and June 2025, according to Notices of Disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit.
However, a technical inspection conducted by COA’s Special Audit Team on September 15 revealed no structure was constructed at the location specified in the approved bid plans. Instead, the structure was supposedly relocated to a different site identified in “As-Built” plans submitted after the fact-without proper authorization or documentation justifying the change.
“The results of the COA technical inspection of Contract ID No. 25CC0148, together with the available records, clearly establish that the Project was never constructed at the designated location in the Approved Bid Plans, thus, not implemented, despite the unwarranted release and full payment of the contract cost by the DPWH to Topnotch,” the ICI report stated.
The Commission noted that the relocation constituted a “material alteration of the project scope” that should have required corresponding documentation and possibly a new bidding process. This is because projects that have their locations changed would also, by default, require different designs, materials, and quantities.
Missing documents
The audit also found a lack of necessary documents required under COA regulations, including the Agency Accomplishment Report, Agency Certificate of Final Acceptance, geotagged photographs taken before, during and after construction, and test results.
“The deliberate suppression or non-submission of these essential documents further hindered effective project validation, supporting the claim of an ‘intent to deceive the government,'” the report said.
The ICI said the Certificate of Completion signed by DPWH officials appears to be falsified. The report cited a Supreme Court ruling that such certificates impose a legal obligation on signatories “to truthfully disclose the facts stated therein” as they are relied upon not only for payment release but also to determine contract compliance.
Recommended charges
The ICI is asking two things: for the Ombudsman to evaluate and decide for its own whether there are actual violations, and for it to consider the specific charges recommended by the ICI.
In a message to reporters, ICI Executive Director Brian Hosaka explained: “Both are recommendations: to assess and investigate and, thereafter, if there are sufficient grounds, file the necessary charges. Because it is the Ombudsman that will do the preliminary investigation.”
The ICI, Hosaka said, “can only recommend.”
According to its report, the ICI is asking the Ombudsman to file criminal charges for violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, malversation of public funds, and falsification against eight DPWH Bulacan officials:
Henry Alcantara, District Engineer
Brice Ericson Hernandez, Assistant District Engineer
Ernesto Galang, Chief of Planning and Design Section and BAC Chairman
Jaypee Mendoza, Chief of Construction Section
John Michael Ramos, Project Engineer
Irene Ontingco, Engineer II
Joshua Blitz Roxas, Engineer II
Bernardo Villafuerte, Engineer II
Also recommended for charges are Eumir Villanueva, president of Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc., along with the firm’s corporate officers and board of directors.
The report noted that while corporations have personalities separate from their officers, “it appears that Topnotch was used as a vehicle for fraud, resulting in damage and prejudice to the Government.” The ICI said there exists “sufficient basis to pierce the corporate veil and hold the individuals involved in the control of the Contractor personally liable.”
Call for charges against former DPWH leadership
The ICI is also recommending administrative charges for grave misconduct, gross dishonesty, and “conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service” against Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan.
Besides Bonoan, the ICI says it wants charges filed against former Undersecretary for Operations Roberto Bernard and former Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnerships Maria Catalina Cabral.
The ICI said Bonoan, as department secretary, had “supervision and control” of DPWH and “miserably failed to exercise simple diligence tantamount to fraud in ensuring the judicious use of public funds.”
“The above-described scheme perpetrated by senior DPWH employees was made possible because Secretary Bonoan betrayed such trust reposed on him,” the report stated. “Were it not for the president’s 2025 State of the Nation Address, Secretary Bonoan’s inexcusable negligence tantamount to fraud would have resulted in further plunder of public funds.”
Regarding the undersecretaries, the ICI said their responsibilities for operations and planning “made them intimately in the know of the activities of senior DPWH officials and responsible for the overall economical, efficient and effective administration of public funds.”
The ICI noted, however, that its findings remain preliminary and that it “does not make categorical findings of guilt.”
However, the commission also urged the Ombudsman to dig deeper into what it described as irregularities that occurred before and after the project’s implementation, saying the scheme could not have happened without the involvement or gross negligence of certain public officials and private contractors.
Report #3. This is the third report the ICI has submitted to the Ombudsman since its creation in September.
The first report, submitted on September 29, flagged a P289.5-million flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. It recommended possible charges of graft, malversation, and falsification against former lawmaker Zaldy Co and 13 DPWH officials.
The second report, submitted on October 29, recommended charges against Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada and other officials for alleged involvement in kick-back schemes tied to various flood control projects.
Topnotch was one of eight firms subpoenaed by the Senate blue ribbon committee in August for failing to attend its flood control hearing.