Don’t fall for false promises, ‘BGC Boys’ told

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday advised the “Bulacan Group of Contractors” or the so-called “BGC Boys” against being deceived by false promises, warning that this could backfire on them.

The Palace was responding to retired columnist Ramon Tulfo, who claimed in a Facebook post on Saturday that these former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are now recanting their statements against lawmakers allegedly involved in anomalous flood control projects.

Over the weekend, a lawyer of Sen. Joel Villanueva claimed that dismissed DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara had retracted his earlier testimony linking the senator and other officials to the flood works scandal.

READ: Lacson: Recantation of witness’ testimony no effect on anti-flood raps

But the Department of Justice said it had not received any such affidavit from Alcantara, while Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano dismissed the claim as “noise,” saying that “We will only rely on sworn statements. Besides, that would hurt their admission into witness protection.”

Castro: Learn from Duterte

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday also warned the former DPWH officials against retracting, adding that criminal complaints resulting from the corruption scandal will proceed regardless of their actions.

According to Tulfo, Vice President Sara Duterte needs the votes of the senators implicated in the flood works mess to block another impeachment move against her.

“[Once] Sara wins, they will be granted executive clemency (pardon, commutation, reprieve), according to the game plan,” Tulfo said.

Palace press officer Claire Castro, in response, said, “We do not have any personal knowledge of what he (Tulfo) mentioned…. But if there is any truth to this, we just hope that… these witnesses who may truly know the truth will not be deceived.”

“You may end up being used, and it could be you who [will go] to jail, while the so-called ‘big fish’ you point to may end up walking free,” she said.

She cited how the Vice President’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, also promised police officers involved in the drug war that he would provide them legal aid and even pardon them.

“[And] yet it was the police officers, the actual members of the police, who ended up being imprisoned,” Castro said.

DPWH reform

Meanwhile, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said the DPWH will hold its officials to stricter merit requirements as part of efforts to reform the agency.

“We are going to be very, very strict and I will be releasing in the next few days or weeks the new merit requirements for all officials of the DPWH, specifically district engineers, assistant district engineers, regional directors and assistant regional directors,” Dizon said in a press conference on Monday.

He also disclosed a list of DPWH officials from various regional offices who were relieved, in accordance with the findings so far of an “ongoing investigation” in the agency.

Among those on the list are regional directors Ronnel Tan of Ilocos, Jovel Mendoza of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Virgilio Eduarte of Bicol and Danila Villa of Central Visayas; and assistant regional directors Annie dela Vega of Bicol and Neil Farala of Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan).

District engineers Ruel Umali of Metro Manila (third district), Manny Bulusan of South Manila, Sherylann Gonzales of La Union (first district), Roy Pacanan of Iloilo City and Peter Scheller Soco of Leyte (fourth district) were also relieved.

The last three officials did not meet the qualification standards of the Civil Service Commission, Dizon said. But he declined, for now, to disclose the details regarding the other relieved officials.

The public works chief also reiterated his call for young graduates to apply at the DPWH and help reform the agency. “We need young, fresh people who have not been corrupted by the system to come in and start changing the system and the department from within,” Dizon said.

He said his department would soon release a new budgeting formula that would replace the so-called allocables (projects distributed to different districts) system which had been marred by reports of corruption.

“I think by next week, Undersecretary [Nick] Conti’s team will be ready with [that] new formula, a new system, on how we make sure that items in budgets, projects in the budgets are really projects that are absolutely necessary and that are not just there because people want to steal money,” Dizon said. —With reports from Faith Argosino, Gillian Villanueva, and John Eric Mendoza