Palace sees Christmas jailing of flood control suspects 'doable'

Placing the alleged perpetrators of the flood control anomalies behind bars by December or before Christmas is doable, Malacañang said yesterday, even as it maintained that rushing the filing of cases could lead to dismissals and finger pointing.

- By ALEXIS ROMERO and NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon recently filed charges for violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Government Procurement Reform Act and malversation of public funds against several government officials and contractors before the Office of the Ombudsman as investigation on flood control corruption continues.

District engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza as well as contractor Sarah Discaya of St. Timothy Corp. were among those charged in relation to the controversy, which has triggered mass actions calling for the jailing of the corrupt.

According to Dizon, the alleged perpetrators of the flood control mess would be spending their Christmas in jail.

"Actually, kaya po yun (that is doable)," Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told The STAR associate editor Marichu Villanueva in an episode of the Bilyonaryo News Channel's "Politiko Talks" aired last Friday.

"If all these involved malversation of public funds and the amount is non-bailable, they will really place people in jail," she added.