How Henry Alcantara rose through the ranks at DPWH

Former Bulacan 1st district engineer Henry Alcantara, who was involved in the implementation of several anomalous flood control projects, may soon face plunder and other charges. 

Tina Panganiban Perez looks back at how Alcantara made his way to the ranks within the Department of Public Works and Highways in a report in “24 Oras” on Wednesday. 

GMA Integrated News first interviewed Alcantara in 2022, who was then a district engineer, regarding the bumpy roads in Bulacan. 

“Actually, most of the national roads po namin, ang Manila North Road, ay talaga naman pong heavily damaged because of the overloaded trucks na dumadaan sa amin,” he said in the past interview. 

(Actually, most of our national roads, the Manila North Road, are truly heavily damaged because of the overloaded trucks that pass through here.) 

Three years later, Alcantara is now in the hot seat over the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan. He was also questioned about gambling and using an alias when entering casinos. 

Alcantara, a Bocaue native, earned his engineering degree from the University of Santo Tomas. He began his career in the DPWH in 1994. 

“Nagsimula po ako job order, ang item ko po ay laborer 1, naging laborer 2, naging engineer 1, every six months po because I was a casual employee at that time,” he said before the House Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday. 

(I started as a job order, my position was Laborer I, then I became Laborer II, then Engineer I, every six months because I was a casual employee at that time.) 

In 2019, Alcantara became the district engineer of Bulacan’s first engineering district, assigned to the position by then DPWH Secretary Mark Villar.

When asked if he was chosen because Villar liked him, he replied, "Nag-apply lang po ako, you honor. [I just applied, your honor]." 

During his stint as 1st district engineer, Alcantara handled 13 localities in Bulacan including the flood-prone ones such as Hagonoy, Baliwag, Calumpit, and Malolos. 

His office then had the largest project cost among the implementing offices of the DPWH. It has 450 flood control projects with a total cost of P28.9 billion from 2022 to 2025, according to data at the Sumbong ng Pangulo website. 

Under Alcantara’s helm, the reinforced concrete river wall project in Barangay Piel in Baliwag was implemented by Syms Construction Trading. This is the same project that was found to be a ghost project. 

Alcantara on Tuesday also admitted that he certified the P55-million flood control project in Baliwag as completed even though he knew that it was a non-existent one.

The former DPWH official also signed two more contracts for two other questioned flood control projects in Bulacan—one with Sarah Discaya's St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and one with Wawao Builders.

Before he was relieved from his post, Alcantara was promoted to officer-in-charge in the DPWH Region 4’s Office of the Assistant Regional Director last June. 

The House Infrastructure Committee said Alcantara will be held accountable for the anomalous projects. 

“Ang malinaw po sa akin, ang maximum criminal charge na pwede po ikaso kay District Engineer Alcantara, sa Syms Construction Trading, yung kanila pong mga managing officer po doon, ay kaso na hindi po bababa dapat sa plunder. Again, ang project amount po ay P55 million. Ang threshold for plunder ay 50 million,” said Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon. 

(What is clear to me is that the maximum criminal charge that can be filed against District Engineer Alcantara, Syms Construction Trading, and their managing officers there, is a plunder case. Again, the project amount is P55 million. The threshold for plunder is P50 million.) — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BM, GMA Integrated News