Witness says crews drove short sheet piles at night on a $5 million Philippine flood dike

Nestor Asi, chairman of Barangay Tagumpay, told the Sandiganbayan that on several visits he saw Sunwest workers installing the piles at around 7 p.m., GMA News reported. No one from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was there, he said, and the crew stopped whenever they noticed him watching. Asked by the defense, he said he believed the night work was deliberate. Bilyonaryo News Channel reported that he also described security guards posted along the road to the site.

Abraham Panaligan, Naujan's construction and maintenance officer, backed Asi's account. He said the two of them met Sunwest's project engineer, who told them the 3-meter piles were meant only for a cofferdam, a temporary enclosure that keeps water out of the work area. Defense lawyers asked why local officials were inspecting a national project. The witnesses answered that the people of Naujan are the ones who will live with the dike.

The Ombudsman has charged former Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co and DPWH regional officials with malversation through falsification of official records. Prosecutors allege that the project paperwork let government money flow despite construction deficiencies. Sunwest is a company linked to Co. Co is a fugitive, reported by Philstar to be hiding in Europe, and his co-accused are in detention. None of the charges has been proven.

In September, Vince Dizon, who inspected the dike as public works secretary, testified in the same court. He told reporters afterward that the piles measured 3 meters against the 12 required, and that during his visit he saw erosion after a single rainfall. Co also faces a separate plunder charge, alongside former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, alleging he received at least ₱7.44 billion in kickbacks tied to flood-control projects, Philstar reported.