By Ferdinand Patinio
MANILA – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced Thursday that suspended Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara has been dismissed.
According to DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon, the action taken against the said official supposedly involved in anomalous flood control projects in the province is a swift response to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to “clean up” the agency amid issues on “ghost and substandard projects”.
The announcement was made during Dizon’s inspection of a “ghost project” in Barangay Sipat, Plaridel, Bulacan worth PHP96.5 million.
The flood control project of Wawao Builders in the Sipat section of the Angat River was declared complete by the DPWH Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office in June 2025.
“Animals did this, they are not human, so they can do this to our countrymen. And believe me, these animals will be imprisoned,” Dizon said.
He assured that Wawao Builders will be subject to perpetual or lifetime blacklisting, along with other contractors such as SYMS Construction Trading which were previously found to be involved in “ghost projects”.
He added that suspended Assistant District Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez and Engineer Jaypee Mendoza, former head of the Construction Section of the DPWH Bulacan 1st DEO, would also be dismissed.
Dizon said this is just the beginning of a massive cleanup of the agency and the perpetual disqualification of contractors involved in anomalies.
“The President has repeatedly said – and this was his clear marching orders to me – that we must not allow this to happen anymore, and to hold people who have done this to account,” he said. (PNA)
