ICI recommends filing of complaints vs. Villanueva, Jinggoy, Co, Cajayon, others

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Wednesday officially asked the Ombudsman to file plunder, bribery, and corruption complaints against Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, former representatives Zaldy Co and Mitch Cajayon, and Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana, among others.

This happened after the ICI, led by its chairperson, Andres Reyes submitted its interim report and recommendation to the Office of the Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday, October 29.

"We recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against the following persons: former Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, Senator Emmanuel Joel Jose Villanueva, Senator Jose 'Jinggoy Estrada' Ejercito Jr., former congressman Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co, Commissioner Mario Lipana, former congresswoman Mary Mitzi 'Mitch' Cajayon-Uy," Reyes said in a press conference.

"Based on testimony and narration of witnesses, the scheme starts from the proponent, who is either a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, who will inform Engineer (Henry) Alcantara that he or she has a budget allocated for an infrastructure project," Reyes said, referring to former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District engineer Henry Alcantara.

"Additionally, the scheme shall always involve flood control projects because the kickback is 25% to 30%, higher than the kickback for other projects, which is only at 10%," he added. 

Reyes added, "These persons possibly committed the following violations: direct or indirect bribery and corruption of public officials under Articles 210, 211, and 212 of the Revised Penal Code; corruption of public officers (under) Section 3b and 3c of RA 3019; and plunder as defined and penalized under Section 2 of RA 7080."

Reyes, however, did not take questions after his announcement of the ICI recommendations to the Ombudsman.

The ICI submitted its findings to the Office of the Ombudsman at around 1 p.m. for action. 

Modus 

Reyes said the operation involved Alcantara directing former DPWH assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez to make a list of projects based on the budget that the proponent has. The list is then given to one Carlo Rivera who will then transmit it either to the Regional Office in Bulacan or to the proponent itself.

If the list was forwarded to the DPWH Regional Director, it will be included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP). On the other hand, if the list was given to the proponent itself, he/she (lawmaker) would insert the projects to the House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB) or bicameral insertions wherein it would be reflected in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Once the projects were included in the NEP or GAA, Rivera would make a summary of the projects while Alcantara would then choose the contractors who would implement the project, an action that would trigger the payment of "obligations" or "SOP" to the proponent.

An advance payment of 10% of the budget allocation when the NEP is released while the remaining 15% would be paid off to the proponent when the GAA is passed. 

If the insertions were included in the GAA, a 25% SOP is given to the proponent. This 25% payoff is then paid for by the contractor to ensure that the project will be awarded to them.

No sacred cows

In closing, Reyes assured the public that the ICI will go after those who are liable over profiting off government projects regardless of their influence and positions in government.

"No one will be spared in this fight against corruption. Politicians and government officials will be investigated and charged by credible evidence," Reyes said.

"To aspiring criminals: Crime will not and does not pay. We will continue to investigate, follow the evidence and pursue charges to the very last man involved. Justice will not be delayed this time, this is our promise to our countrymen," Reyes added. 

Denials

In a statement, Villanueva said his camp will wait for the copy of the official referral of the ICI to the Ombudsman and his lawyers will study the basis of his inclusion in the complaint. 

"We will await the action of the Ombudsman and file our answer," he added.

Villanueva said that records of the Senate will show that he has been against flood control projects from the very beginning and he was the one who exposed and questioned it. He added Alcantara also consistently testified that he knows nothing about the flood control projects.

"All these, at the proper time, will prove my innocence," he said.

For his part, Estrada said he is also ready to defend himself to prove his innocence.

“Wala akong tinanggap na anumang pondong nakalaan para sa mga flood control projects, at kaya kong patunayan ito sa hukuman. Ang mga paratang laban sa akin ay pawang hearsay o batay lamang sa sabi-sabi,” Estrada said in a statement.

(I did not accept any funds for flood control projects, and I can prove this in court. The allegations against me are all based on hearsay.)

Estrada previously denied links to flood control projects and even challenged Hernandez to take a lie detector test to prove his allegations. Estrada has also filed perjury complaints against Hernandez. 

Villanueva and Estrada earlier expressed willingness to open their bank accounts for scrutiny.

In a previous statement, Co also denied receiving funds from the DPWH flood control projects.

In a Facebook post on September 18, Cajayon said she does not know Alcantara and even Hernandez, who first linked her to the flood control projects.  —AOL/VDV/RSJ/LDF, GMA Integrated News