THE government has recovered more than P316 million linked to the controversial ghost flood control projects, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday.

Acting DOJ Secretary Fredderick Vida reported that the funds were returned by state witnesses involved in the cases. These include DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, who returned P181 million; DPWH Regional Director Gerard Opulencia, P80 million; DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, P35 million; and contractor Sally Santos, P20 million.

“Sila po ay nakikipagtulungan sa Department of Justice para po mapalakas ‘yung ating mga kaso laban doon sa ating gustong habulin (They are helping the DOJ to strengthen our cases against those we want to run after),” Vida said.

DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said the government expects to recover significantly more as the investigation continues. He noted that four state witnesses committed to return an estimated P1.5 billion in alleged kickbacks from ghost project contracts.

“Ang estimate doon sa apat, lalampas sa P1.5 billion (It is estimated that the total money they committed to return will reach more than P1.5 billion),” Ty said.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said two former DPWH assistant district engineers—Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza—were not admitted as state witnesses for now.

“Sa ngayon wala kaming nakikitang pangangailangan para sila ay i-discharge namin, at least, tungkol dito sa mga kaso kung saan sila ay lumalapit para matanggap bilang testigo estado (At the moment, we see no need to have them discharged as state witnesses in the cases where they applied as state witnesses),” Fadullon said.