MANILA — The P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan was included in the 2025 General Appropriations Act after it was listed in budget documents as part of an errata submitted to Congress, a witness told the Sandiganbayan.

In a report, Engr. Peter Cortez, chief of the Programming Division of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Office Planning Service, testified during the bail hearing of the malversation case filed against former senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. and six others.

Cortez said the project was included in an errata submitted by the DPWH to the House of Representatives in September 2024, and that the name of Revilla was listed as project proponent based on instructions he received.

“Usec Cabral is the only one na nag-iinstruct sa amin,” Cortez said when asked by Sandiganbayan justices who identified Revilla as the proponent.

He added that the instruction came from then DPWH official Cathy Cabral.

(I am sure, Sir. May instruction po ‘yun.)

Cortez said Revilla’s name and the Pandi project were encoded into the DPWH database following Cabral’s verbal instruction.

He explained that errata or corrections may be submitted before Congress approves the national budget on third and final reading.

Cortez also said the errata containing the Pandi project was signed by Cabral and then Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan before being adopted by lawmakers as part of the budget measure, which was later enacted into law as the 2025 national budget.

The witness said the inclusion of the project, along with the identification of its proponent, followed the standard budget amendment process and was eventually carried into the final version of the spending law.

Cabral reportedly signed the documents linked to the errata process before her death in Benguet province in December 2025 amid ongoing investigations into alleged anomalous flood control projects.