Seven former DPWH officials plead not guilty to flood-control graft charges

Seven former Department of Public Works and Highways officers, led by ex-Assistant Engineer Brice Hernandez, appeared before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division and entered not-guilty pleas in a graft case concerning a purported P77 million flood-control project in Balagtas, Bulacan. Ombudsman prosecutors allege the project began in February 2025 and was completed by May 2025, yet on-site inspections revealed no actual construction.

The accused also include Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig, Niño Lawrence Morales, Juanito Mendoza, Floralyn Simbulan, and Christina Mae Pineda. Three other individuals—former House appropriations panel chair Zaldy Co and his aides John Paul Estrada and Mark Tecsay—remain fugitives. All detained officials are already facing separate malversation and graft charges for a P92.8 million flood-control effort in Pandi, Bulacan, where investigators similarly found no physical infrastructure.