Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.
— United States 46th president Joseph Robinette Biden
RESIDENTS OF BALIUAG, Balagtas, Malolos, Pulilan, and several other towns in Bulacan never realized that beneath the flood waters that submerged their homes was proof of corruption pointing to officials in government who were supposedly there to serve public interest.
At the focal point of this scandalous affair is a miniscule figure whose name unexpectedly bore enormous influence among his peers—Bryce Ericson D. Hernandez, the former assistant district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)–Bulacan First District Engineering Office (DEO).
Over the past few months, Hernandez has emerged as a key player in what government auditors and legislators now refer to as the largest infrastructure corruption schemes in our country’s history.
GHOST PROJECTS
The Commission on Audit (COA) has so far filed 29 fraud audit reports implicating Hernandez in a spree of anomalous flood control projects, which include ghost construction, overpriced structures, mismatched sites and the systematic misuse of contractor licenses—most of them orchestrated under his watch.
According to COA, the projects were paid in full despite the fact that they were not completed or physically implemented.
‘As of the moment, there is no official word on whether Hernandez will be offered—or granted—state witness status, and his request for witness protection remains pending. What is certain, though, is that whether he speaks more, backpedals again or falls silent …’
FRAUD AUDIT REPORTS
In September and October 2025 alone, state auditor filed nine fraud audit reports with the Office of the Ombudsman and 20 additional reports with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), all of which were traced back to the Office of Mr. Hernandez.
And in nearly every case that CoA scrutinized, there was found a disturbing pattern—projects were fully paid despite zero or incomplete implementation, progress billing was supported by falsified documents and site photos, signatures of resident engineers, end-users and contractors were forged and contractors’ licenses were borrowed or used without their knowledge.
In every one of these projects, Hernandez was among those COA held liable.
In official reports, the agency recommended charges for graft and corruption under Republic Act No. 3019, as well as malversation and falsification of public documents under the Revised Penal Code.
NOT ONLY HERNANDEZ
However, it was not only Hernandez alone who profited from the scheme he created. In the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, the former assistant district engineer revealed that he was part of a bigger group whose formed an internal profit-sharing scheme that gave him a 20 percent cut for himself while 40 percent went to his boss, District engineer Henry Alcantara and the rest split in half to engineers JovelMendoza and Paul Duya.
He also implicated former President Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada’s son, Senator Jose “Jinggoy Estrada” EjercitoJr., but he later recanted, saying “specifically, it’s really not Sen. Jinggoy.”
And amidst all these, Hernandez has been found guilty of disloyalty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the service.
The penalty for such includes perpetual disqualification from public office, forfeiture of benefits and cancellation from civil service.
As of the moment, there is no official word on whether Hernandez will be offered—or granted—state witness status, and his request for witness protection remains pending. What is certain, though, is that whether he speaks more, backpedals again or falls silent, Hernandez now stands as one of the most notorious figures in a scandal that has obliterated public trust in the country’s infrastructure system.
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