5 DPWH Bulacan engineers suspended over P118-M anomalous flood control projects

The DPWH engineers face charges of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and gross neglect of duty in connection with alleged irregularities in three flood control projects worth P188.9 million in Baliuag, Bulacan

AT A GLANCE

• The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of five public works engineers from Bulacan's first district engineering office due to their alleged involvement in corrupt flood control projects.
• The suspended engineers face serious charges including grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty related to irregularities in three flood control projects worth P188.9 million.
• The investigation is part of a larger corruption scandal involving multiple officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways, with some already dismissed and others detained.

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MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of five public works engineers from Bulacan’s first district engineering office (DEO) over their alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects.

Those subjected to preventive suspension are the following project engineers:

• Irene D. Ontingco
• Kevin A. Geronimo
• John Michael E. Ramos
• Bernardo P. Villafuerte
• Michelle C. Cruz

In a statement released on Friday, October 30, the Ombudsman said the government engineers were suspended without pay for a period not exceeding six months, pending the resolution of administrative cases against them.

They face charges of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and gross neglect of duty in connection with alleged irregularities in three flood control projects worth P188.9 million in Baliuag, Bulacan.

“To facilitate the implementation of the contracts and the disbursement of public funds, complainant maintains that respondents falsified documents relating to contract implementation, inspection, acceptance, billing and payment to create the false impression that the contractual and legal prerequisites had been satisfied,” the order from Ombudsman reads.

The Bulacan 1st DEO has figured prominently in the flood control corruption scandal. It was the former workplace of dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials Brice Hernandez and Henry Alcantara.

In his testimony before a Senate panel investigating flood control corruption in September 2025, Hernandez claimed that all projects implemented by the Bulacan 1st DEO from 2019 to 2025 were substandard.

Hernandez and Alcantara, along with other DPWH officials Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig, and Juanito C. Mendoza, were also named in the administrative complaint. However, they were not covered by the preventive suspension order – they have already been dismissed from the DPWH.

The Ombudsman also ordered the preventive suspension of DPWH engineer Norberto L. Santos and administrative officer Floralyn Y. Simbulan. However, the implementation of the order against them was rendered moot because Santos and Simbulan have already been detained in Quezon City and Bulacan, respectively.

Meanwhile, state auditors Cinderella Esperanza A. Santos and Madonna S. Atencion, who were also named as respondents in the case, were not preventively suspended.

According to the Ombudsman, there was no showing that their continued presence in office would pose a risk of evidence tampering or hamper the ongoing investigation.

Others who also figured in the case are former DPWH administrative officer Evelyn T. De Jesus, former engineer Ernesto C. Galang, former materials engineer Vicente G. Calderon, and former project engineer Merg Jaron C. Laus. – Rappler.com