DOJ: No recantation by Henry Alcantara

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January 11, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has denied a rumor circulating on social media that former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District Engineering Office engineer Henry Alcantara has recanted his testimony about the flood control scam.

“For the record, the DOJ has not received or reviewed any affidavit from Henry Alcantara retracting his previous statements,” DOJ spokesman Raphael Niccolo Martinez said in a press statement yesterday.

“There has been no official recantation by Alcantara whether written or verbal,” he added.

Martinez issued the statement amid a rumor that Alcantara supposedly submitted a counter-affidavit to the DOJ, wherein he recanted his previous admission that he was involved in the ghost flood control projects in Bulacan and that he received kickbacks from the flood control scheme.

The DOJ had earlier provisionally admitted Alcantara to the Witness Protection Program (WPP) to utilize him as a state witness.

Alcantara also recently turned over to the DOJ a total of P181.37 million as part of his commitment to restitute the government of the total of P300 million which he admitted to have illegally amassed as kickbacks from flood control projects.

Acting Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida earlier said that among the conditions set forth in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that Alcantara and other individuals provisionally admitted to the WPP executed with the DOJ is their restitution of the government of their illegally amassed wealth.

Vida said this is on top of their commitment to “tell all” that they know in connection with the flood control anomalies once they are utilized as state witnesses during the prosecution of the cases in court.

Vida, however, reiterated that provisional admission to the WPP does not mean blanket immunity from suit in connection with more flood control cases that might be filed in court.

He said their immunity only covers the flood control project transactions they admitted to have knowledge of and involvement in and in which they admitted to have received kickbacks.

Apart from Alcantara, also earlier provisionally admitted to the WPP were DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former DPWH National Capital Region engineer Gerard Opulencia and private contractor Sally Santos, the owner and general manager of SYMS Construction Trading.