A YouTube video claims that dismissed assistant engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Bulacan first engineering district has implicated neophyte Sen. Rodante Marcoleta in the allegedly anomalous flood control projects in the province. This is false.
During the Sept. 9 public hearing by the House Infrastructure Committee, Hernandez tagged Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva for supposedly receiving 30% commission from flood control projects in Bulacan that they have identified for funding in the national government budget. Marcoleta was not among the senators named by the ex-DPWH engineer.
Marcoleta chaired the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that initially investigated the anomalous flood control projects. He was replaced on Sept. 8 by Sen. Panfilo Lacson following a Senate leadership change led by now Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Uploaded on Sept. 9, the inaccurate video bore a title that read:
“BREAKING NEWS! NAG LEAK NA! ₱355M kay JINGGOY ₱600M kay JOEL FLOOD CONTROL KICKBACK MARCOLETA DAMAY
(Breaking news! Leaked! P355M for Jinggoy, P600M for Joel flood control kickback. Marcoleta also involved)”
A text on its thumbnail read:
“BIG EVIDENCE NILANTAD DINAWIT SI JINGGOY VILLANUEVA AT MARCOLETA NAG LEAK NA!
(Big evidence exposed. Jinggoy, Villanueva, and Marcoleta implicated, now leaked!)”
A Facebook user reposted the video’s thumbnail in a group named “Rodante Marcoleta and Sara Duterte Supporters” and attached a link, which redirects netizens to a website filled with advertisements.
While Hernandez mentioned Marcoleta’s name during the House probe, he was referring to the senator’s remark in the Sept. 8 Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing that Estrada was “safe,” after contractor Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya said no senator was involved in the anomalous flood control projects.
The dismissed DPWH engineer refuted Marcoleta’s “safe ka na (you are safe)” statement and name-dropped Estrada and Villanueva as the senators supposedly linked to the anomalous infrastructure projects.
Hernandez claimed that Estrada “inserted” P355 million in the 2025 budget for flood control projects in Hagonoy and Malolos from which he allegedly received a 30% “SOP” or share. He likewise alleged that in 2023, Villanueva identified P600 million worth of projects in Balagtas and Bocaue, also padded with a 30% kickback.
Both senators have belied Hernandez’s accusations in their respective speeches during the Senate session on Sept. 9.
Estrada described the claims of Hernandez as “malicious and blatant lies,” adding he will “pursue every legal remedy” against the former assistant district engineer. For his part, Villanueva said in Filipino that he “has never had any flood control project,” dismissing Hernandez’s allegations against him as a “demolition job.”
The spurious video emerged on the same day Hernandez dropped bombshell statements before the House in connection with the controversies involving flood control projects in the country.
Posted by YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER (created on Dec. 26, 2015), the video with the untrue claim has so far garnered 26,893 views, 1,200 reactions and 335 comments as of writing.
