Flood control: Alcantara vows to return P300M, but only has P18M in SALN

MANILA, Philippines — State witness and former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Henry Alcantara on Monday vowed to return P300 million to the government despite declaring only up to P18 million in his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).

READ: Revilla case witness returns P130M to gov’t despite only ‘P10M’ in SALN

Alcantara disclosed this as he took the witness stand at the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division for the trial of the graft case against former Sen. Bong Revilla and his co-accused.

Quizzed by Associate Justice Frederick Musngi, chairperson of the Fourth Division, Alcantara said he has since restituted P181 million out of the P300 million. The government requires restitution of funds for a witness to be admitted to the Witness Protection Program.

Alcantara also said the government gave him until 2027 to restitute the remaining amount.

Musngi then asked Alcantara about his net worth, to which he responded: “P17 to P18 million.”

The apparent discrepancy between his SALN and his pledge for restitution did not escape Musngi’s attention.

“Your true net worth is not indicated in your SALN?” Musngi said. “This is disproportionate to your SALN.”

Musngi asked if Alcantara had other sources of income, and the latter said he is a shareholder of certain businesses.

Among the salient parts of Alcantara’s testimony was his revelation of the existence of the so-called “in-house” contractors in his district.

READ: Alcantara bares ‘in-house’ contractors in DPWH Bulacan

Alcantara said the so-called “in-house” contractors were led by former DPWH assistant district engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who are also Revilla’s co-accused in this graft case.

Hernandez borrowed the license of SYMS Construction, which is prohibited by law. /mcm