A clear line is being drawn as the Sandiganbayan deliberates on the bail petitions of DPWH Region IV-B officials who were caught in the eye of the Naujan flood control storm.
It is a line that separates the constitutional mandate of the judiciary from the predatory calculations of political optics.
Let’s get the facts straight before the propaganda machine twists them further.
DPWH Region IV-B does not have “ghost projects.” The initial vilification of these engineers was born of lazy investigation—relying on MYPS digital coordinates rather than putting boots on the ground.
When the dust settled and physical verification was conducted, the projects were there: in short, they exist.
However, we now see an unprecedented “excavation” by the local government of an unfinished project. They claim 12-meter steel sheet piles (SSPs) were cut to 3 meters.
The contractor? Sunwest Construction, linked to Zaldy Co. Because of this, prosecutors have slapped a non-bailable charge of conspiracy to commit malversation on everyone in sight.
While verified ghost projects in other districts remain in legal limbo, the Region IV-B officials were hauled to court with remarkable speed.
One must ask: Is this a quest for justice, or a choreographed move designed to appease the angry public?
The men languishing in detention are not power brokers. They are career engineers and technical officials—state servants who climbed the ladder through decades of hard work and commitment to public service.
When the warrants dropped, they didn’t flee; they surrendered. They spent their Christmas and New Year behind bars, placing their liberty in the hands of the Sandiganbayan, trusting the law over the headlines.
Contrast this with the loud drumbeating coming from some government executives among them Ombudsman Crispin “Boying” Remulla and Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor.
Their pronouncements were obviously aren’t just updates; they are a full-court press designed to send messages to the Sandiganbayan justices.
During the bail hearings, a barangay official claimed Sunwest laborers performed “nighttime pile-driving” to hide the cutting of the SSPs.
But that same official admitted they never informed the DPWH engineers. In a conspiracy charge, knowledge is everything.
You cannot presume criminal intent just because a man holds an office. If the laborers worked under the cover of darkness to deceive the supervisors, how does that translate to a strong evidence of guilt for the engineers?
The mantra of the Executive is often: “We follow where the evidence leads.” Fine.
But that is a two-way street. If the evidence—or the glaring lack thereof—leads to the grant of bail, that outcome must be respected.
Evidence is not a one-way alley that only ends in conviction.
Our Constitution is clear. The Legislature makes the law, the Executive implements it, and the Judiciary interprets it.
The Sandiganbayan is the anti-graft court, not a tool for the Executive’s PR department.
The justices must not be swayed by the “rule of noise” being orchestrated by some top government executives.
Political investigations are often subject to negotiation and “palakasan,” but the courtroom must be a sanctuary of objectivity.
If cases were filed with lightning speed to satisfy a narrative, the decisions must be rendered with the cold, hard deliberation of the law.
If the court grants bail, it doesn’t mean the case is over. It simply means the prosecution failed to prove that the evidence of guilt is “strong” enough to strip a man of his liberty before a verdict.
Furthermore, bail is personal. It won’t help those who remain at large like Zaldy Co.
You cannot be a fugitive and a petitioner at the same time. But for those who stood their ground and faced the music, the law must be their shield.
In a true democracy, the Rule of Law must always prevail over the Rule of Noise.
