SYMS contractor Sally Santos testified before the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division that she delivered P1.72 billion to Brice Hernandez, a former assistant district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office.
Prosecutors presented Santos as a witness during a hearing on Wednesday on the bail petitions of former senator Ramon Revilla Jr. and most of his co-accused.
The defendants are seeking bail in a malversation through falsification case filed last January by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with an alleged “ghost project” in Pandi, Bulacan. All the accused are detained.
During the bail hearing, Santos testified that she lent her contractor’s license for the project. She said that she received a 3-percent royalty fee and that the remainder of the funds was given to Hernandez.
She answered “yes” when asked during the hearing if she had delivered P1.72 billion to Hernandez.
During the proceedings, Associate Justice Karl Miranda, the division chairman, expressed concern regarding the credibility of Santos, who is a state witness.
When Miranda asked for the reason behind her revelations, she replied in Filipino, “Just to tell the truth.” Revilla’s camp has maintained that he had no hand in the project.
Santos testified that she was unaware it would be a ghost project.
In a related development, lawyers for alleged flood control scam contractor Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Discaya and nine others challenged the claim that a P96.5-million flood control project in Davao Occidental was a ghost project.
They argued that the structure exists, though questions regarding its location were raised during trial proceedings on Tuesday, April 7, at the Regional Trial Court Branch 27 in Lapu-Lapu City.
The case also involves St. Timothy Construction Corp. president Maria Roma Rimando and eight DPWH officials from the Davao Occidental District Engineering Office.
They are Rodrigo Larete, Michael Awa, Joel Lumogdang, Harold John Villaver, Jafael Faunillian, Josephine Valdez, Ranulfo Flores and Czar Ryan Ubungen.
The 10 accused face charges of violating Republic Act 3019 and malversation of public funds through falsification of documents over a 2-kilometer revetment project along the Culaman riverbank in Barangay Kulaman, Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental.
The Office of the Ombudsman, led by officer in charge for preliminary investigation Jess Vincent Dela Peña, presented three witnesses from the DPWH Central Office Quality Assurance Unit.
The witnesses, who specialize in design, construction and project quality, testified that they conducted a technical inspection of the project Oct. 25, 2025.
They said the partially completed structure was not situated within the coordinates indicated in the approved Detailed Engineering Design, as-built plan and as-staked plan.
The coordinates in the documents matched each other but differed from those shown at the site by Villaver, the project engineer. One witness said the starting point observed during inspection was approximately 400 meters away from the coordinates specified in the plans.
The witness also cited deviations between planned specifications and actual construction, including differences in the size of stones and the splicing of rebars.
Another witness testified that only 271 meters of the structure had been completed, with portions of rubble concrete unfinished and rebars left exposed. Aside from the 271-meter portion, no other structures were found along the rest of the river stretch.
The witness added that the actual site conditions did not match project documents prepared in 2022, including the Statement of Time Elapsed, Statement of Work Accomplished, Final Completion Inspection Report and Certificate of Completion.
The witnesses noted that the investigation team visited the site only once, which marked their first visit to the location.
During cross-examination, defense counsel Joseph Randi Torregosa highlighted that the prosecution witnesses acknowledged the presence of an ongoing project during their inspection.
“The prosecution claims this is a ghost project, yet their own witness admitted there was a partially completed structure and ongoing work,” Torregosa said.
Torregosa argued that the prosecution’s theory is flawed because a ghost project implies non-existence, whereas the testimony established that the structure physically exists. He added that the most important fact established by the testimony is that the project is not a ghost project.
Torregosa also said the project had been completed Oct. 2, 2022, but later required repairs after sustaining damage from typhoons and heavy rains in December 2024. The original construction period ran from Jan. 13, 2022, to Nov. 14, 2023.
He said that the project is covered by a five-year warranty period, during which the contractor remains responsible for repairs. He said the works observed during the inspection were undertaken within this warranty period.
Rimando’s lawyer, Cornelio Samaniego, said that while the charges allege the project “was never constructed,” inspection findings confirmed that portions had been built.
Defense lawyers noted that the prosecution’s issue centered on discrepancies in the project’s coordinates and starting point, rather than the existence of the structure itself.
They said portions of the riverbank project had been partially completed, while other sections were undergoing repairs during the October 2025 inspection.
All of the accused, except for Villaver, who appeared in person, attended the hearing via videoconferencing while being held at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City.