{"id":18274,"date":"2026-01-16T02:34:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/?p=18274"},"modified":"2026-01-16T02:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:37:21","slug":"doj-okays-contractor-ex-dpwh-offcials-to-become-state-witnesses-in-anomalous-flood-control-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/doj-okays-contractor-ex-dpwh-offcials-to-become-state-witnesses-in-anomalous-flood-control-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ OKAYS CONTRACTOR, EX-DPWH OFFICIALS TO BECOME STATE WITNESSES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has allowed a contractor and three former \u00a0Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials to become state witnesses in cases involving alleged anomalous flood control projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>In a press briefing on Thursday,<\/strong><strong> Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said contractor Sally Santos,<\/strong><strong> former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, ex-Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, and former DPWH National Capital Region director Gerard Opulencia<\/strong><strong> are now under the government\u2019s Witness Protection Program (WPP).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"653\" data-end=\"993\"><strong>However, Fadullon said former DPWH engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who also applied for inclusion in the WPP, did not qualify as state witnesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\"><strong>DOJ Secretary Fredderick Vida said the four state witnesses would be discharged from criminal liability in the specific cases they are assisting the government.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>But Vida clarified<\/strong><strong> that admission into the witness protection program does not automatically remove all criminal liability.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\"><strong>He said state witnesses are discharged from criminal liability only in cases where they have provided evidence that can be used by the prosecution.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The DOJ said a total of P316,381,500 had been returned by the four state witnesses. The breakdown of restitutions is as follows: Alcantara P181 million; Opulencia P80 million, Bernardo P35 million and Santos P20 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has allowed a contractor and three former &nbsp;Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials to become state witnesses in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18274"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18278,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18274\/revisions\/18278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}