Lacson amenable to DOJ's request to take ex-DPWH exec Alcantara into custody 

Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairperson Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said on Monday that he is amenable for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take into custody former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st district engineer Henry Alcantara. 

Alcantara was detained by the Senate after he was cited in contempt in September last year for lying in connection with the ghost flood projects in Bulacan. But he was recently admitted into the DOJ's witness protection program. 

“Insofar as the witnesses admitted already into the program, Mr. Chair,  the department would probably be asking for, especially for those under the custody of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, that we take custody of them so they can be placed under the protective custody of the witness protection program,” said Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon during the Senate panel’s hearing on the anomalous flood control projects. 

For his part, Lacson said: "Isama niyo na pag-alis." 

(Bring him with you when you leave.) 

“If the chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee so desires, we will take the necessary or appropriate actions to take him into our custody,” Fadullon responded. 

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III jested: “Sige, baka mabawasan na namin yung laman doon sa baba. Baka may ipapasok kaming bago, especially those who do not respond to the subpoena of the Senate has brought out.” 

(Go ahead, maybe we can reduce the number of people staying downstairs. We might be bringing someone new in, especially those who do not respond to the subpoenas the Senate has issued.) 

Further, Lacson asked the DOJ if it could also admit other detainees in the Senate into the WPP. 

“Admit niyo na rin sa program yung iba kung magko-cooperate para mabawasan pa kami dito….And the committee may even recommend, through the Senate President, once they fully cooperate and help in the investigation and eventual conviction of those being implicated, I hope you will agree if the committee will recommend to the WPP, to the DOJ,” said Lacson. 

(You should also admit the others into the program if they cooperate so our numbers here can be further reduced. And the committee may even recommend, through the Senate President—once they fully cooperate and help in the investigation and eventual conviction of those being implicated—I hope you will agree if the committee makes that recommendation to the WPP and the DOJ.) 

For his part, Fadullon said the DOJ will consider the senator’s proposal. 

“We will seriously consider the recommendation coming from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the Senate President, as we have made official in the statements of the department, we are not totally disclosing the possibility of these witnesses who applied that they will no longer be considered in future cases,” he said.

Aside from Alcantara, the other individuals admitted into the WPP are former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, DPWH engineer Gerard Opulencia and contractor Sally Santos, the owner and manager of SYMS Construction Trading.

Moreover, the DOJ said that granting a state witness status is not a matter of who applied first. He added that not all cases require having state witnesses. 

“Ang pinaguusapan dito ay merong mga pamantayan an sinusundan tayo [...] Hindi naman rin po kailangan sa lahat ng kaso na kumuha ng state witness ang estado. Only in those cases or instances na sa tingin natin ay may kakulangan doon sa ebidensya na kailangan mapunuan, diyan po natin tinitignan kung sino ang pwede nating i-konsidera bilang state witness,” said Fadullon. 

(What we are talking about here is that there are standards that we follow. The state does not necessarily need to get a state witness for every case. It is only in those cases or instances where we feel there is a lack of evidence that needs to be filled—that is when we look at who we can consider as a state witness.) —LDF, GMA Integrated News