The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that it will not rely solely on witness testimony when filing cases related to the alleged corruption in flood control projects.
DOJ Officer-In-Charge Undersecretary Fredderick Vida said that the agency will file cases, with or without the “tell-all” testimonies of contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya, as well as the involved district engineers. However, the DOJ will rely on the evidence it has gathered.
“The timeline is already set. The people are impatient. If we don’t find something satisfactory, we will file the appropriate cases, with or without state witnesses,” Vida said in his first appearance before the media on Monday, October 13.
“We will build the cases based on the evidence we have. What we can assure the Filipino people is that we will only file strong cases,” he added.
When it comes to testimonies, Vida said that all statements must be “verifiable by factual and objective evidence,” stressing the importance of determining whether they are truthful or merely attempts to mislead investigators.
Regarding the so-called “tell-all” accounts, he stressed that the key point of scrutiny is whether the witness is acting in “good faith” and fully disclosing the facts, or being “selective” in naming individuals.
Aside from the Discaya couple, the list of individuals designated as protected witnesses also includes several former officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH): former Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, dismissed Bulacan First District Engineer Henry Alcantara, and engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza.
Within three to four weeks, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) said it aims to file 15 to 20 cases against individuals linked to the 421 suspected ghost flood control projects.
Newly sworn in as special adviser to the ICI, former Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the commission should file 15 to 20 cases before the Ombudsman in the fourth week.
Out of an initial pool of 8,000 projects earlier reviewed by the government, 421 flood control projects were flagged as questionable, missing, or substandard.
The distribution of these anomalous projects shows that the majority, 261, are located in Luzon, while 109 are in Visayas and 51 in Mindanao.
These figures represent a significant portion of the total flood control work implemented by the DPWH between 2016 and 2025, during which approximately 29,800 flood control projects were completed out of 238,200 total infrastructure projects.