Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said the four individuals accepted as state witnesses in the probe into anomalous flood control projects must help expose the masterminds behind the alleged irregularities.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon confirmed that former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara, regional director Gerard Opulencia, and government contractor Sally Santos have been admitted as state witnesses.
“The important thing is that we have a process and we are confident that these witnesses have been vetted by the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman,” Dizon said in a Saturday interview.
“But that is with the impression that they will help to identify who the masterminds are behind this grand theft. But we also leave this to the justice agencies, and we are confident that they have been vetted.”
Dizon clarified that their inclusion as state witnesses does not automatically absolve them of all criminal liability.
“It does not mean that they will be acquitted from all charges. I think our countrymen need to know that they were accepted into the program, but that doesn’t mean they can no longer be charged in the cases they have been involved in,” he said.
Dizon declined to comment on allegations that former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan provided wrong project coordinates to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., but acknowledged that discrepancies existed.
“I don’t want to talk about the motive, whether it was intentional, it was just a mistake, someone gave Sec. Manny the data that he just shared, but the fact is many of the coordinates given around August (2025), the coordinates were wrong, wrong in the sense that there are no projects,” he said.
On Friday, Dizon led inspections of sections of the Maharlika Highway in Quezon province and Camarines Sur. He announced that the 3,500-kilometer highway will undergo its first major rehabilitation since it was built in the 1970s under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
He added that temporary repairs will be carried out from February to March to ensure smoother and safer travel ahead of the Holy Week rush in April.
“We will start in February until March to temporarily do the works on the roads, to give a safer and smoother travel for motorists who are expected to traverse these roads during the Holy Week,” Dizon said.