P611 million in cash, assets returned to DOJ in flood control probe

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said Tuesday the government recovered P611 million in cash and assets from state witnesses in its probe on anomalous flood control projects.

Vida said a total of P611,381,500 was returned to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and deposited into the Bureau of the Treasury.

"As of today, a total of P611 million has been recovered as part of the people's money," he said in a press briefing.

Of that amount, DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo returned P290 million, former DPWH Bulacan District Engineer Henry Alcantara returned P181 million, former DPWH regional director Gerard Opulencia returned P120 million, and contractor Sally Santos returned P20 million.

"This covers not just the amounts surrendered already as restitution to the department but also those that were previously assigned by Usec. Bernardo, specifically, to the department," he said.

"When I say assigned, we refer to the assets, frozen assets previously, valuable assets which could not be liquidated at least that time. But then after evaluation, after consideration of all the values of these assets, it was determined to be at P611 million," he added.

The DOJ recently cleared Alcantara and Santos as respondents in cases over anomalous flood control projects in Bulacan due to their status as state witnesses. — VDV, GMA Integrated News