State Witness Henry Alcantara No Longer Listed as Respondent
HENRY ALCANTARA – The former district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is no longer listed as a respondent in the cases involving alleged irregularities in flood control projects in Bulacan.
According to the Department of Justice, he was removed from the list of accused after being accepted as a state witness under the Witness Protection Program. Because of this, he was not included in the malversation and graft charges filed in court.
The DOJ explained that once a person becomes a state witness, they are released from criminal liability in exchange for their cooperation and for providing important information that can help strengthen the case. Alcantara is believed to have key knowledge about the projects linked to a construction firm, making his testimony important to the investigation.
Aside from Henry Alcantara, contractor Sally Santos was also not charged in connection with the same issue. Like Alcantara, she was accepted as a state witness along with other former DPWH officials. As a result, she was not included among those formally accused in court. Instead, charges were filed against several former DPWH assistant engineers, including Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, along with other individuals involved in the projects.
The cases were filed between late January and mid-February and were later transferred to a special court in Quezon City that handles corruption-related cases. The accused were arraigned in the first week of March, and the trial began immediately afterward. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 13 at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 79. At present, some of the accused, including Hernandez and Mendoza, are detained while the legal proceedings continue.
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