Philippine Senate President Professional Tempore Panfilo Lacson has laid out severe allegations in opposition to a bunch of former Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers, whom he known as the “BGC Boys” or Bulacan Group of Contractors. In a privilege speech, Lacson claimed the group suffered playing losses amounting to greater than PHP950 million throughout 13 casinos situated in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Pampanga.
On line casino Transactions Exceeding a Billion Pesos
“Primarily based on the paperwork we obtained from Pagcor, the on line casino losses of those 5 people are staggering — totaling P950 million in gross losses,” Lacson said, pointing to official and validated on line casino information.
The people named included District Engineer Henry Alcantara, together with Assistant Engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig, and Edrick San Diego. A lot of them allegedly used false identities whereas playing, with Hernandez and Mendoza recording the best losses at PHP435 million and PHP418 million, respectively. Alcantara’s information confirmed losses of PHP36.7 million beneath an alias, whereas Domasig and San Diego misplaced PHP16.9 million and PHP42.4 million, respectively.
Past losses, the overall transaction quantity related to those males was reportedly even bigger. Lacson cited figures exhibiting Alcantara alone transformed PHP1.42 billion in money to chips from 2023 to 2025, recovering practically PHP998 million again into money. Hernandez’s transactions confirmed PHP659.9 million transformed into chips and PHP1.38 billion transformed again to money.
“Sure, you heard it proper, B as in billion,” Lacson emphasised, as reported by JIJI Press.
The Philippine Anti-Cash Laundering Council (AMLC) has since confirmed it would examine casinos related to those allegations. AMLC govt director Matthew David defined on the GMA program 24 Oras that penalties could also be imposed relying on violations discovered through the probe. “There’s a corresponding penalty beneath our guidelines on administrative circumstances in opposition to coated individuals. There’s a desk of penalties for that, relying on the potential violation we discover,” he mentioned.
Casinos within the Philippines have been categorised as “coated individuals” since 2017, that means they’re required to report any transaction exceeding PHP5 million, confirm buyer identities, and preserve detailed information for at the least 5 years. The AMLC investigation will deal with whether or not these obligations have been correctly met and whether or not on line casino employees didn’t determine suspicious actions.
Lacson additionally criticized casinos for permitting massive conversions of money to chips and again once more with out flagging the exercise to regulators. He alleged that a few of the engineers used a number of authorities IDs and false names, making it troublesome to trace the transactions.
Alleged Corruption in Flood Management Initiatives
The scandal goes past on line casino flooring. In response to Lacson, the engineers’ actions are tied to irregularities in DPWH flood management initiatives in Bulacan. He described manipulated bidding processes, fabricated progress reviews, and falsified paperwork. “These usually are not clerical errors; these are fingerprints of a system perfected over time to pocket billions of funds,” he mentioned.
One instance he cited concerned a PHP92.58 million river challenge in Barangay Perez, Bulacan. Regardless of being awarded in mid-December 2024, the contractor claimed practically half completion inside two days and billed virtually 50% of the challenge value. By March 2025, authorities funds had continued, but inspectors discovered little to no precise progress. One other firm, IM Development Company, allegedly submitted duplicate photographs in progress reviews to justify repeated funds.
Lacson additionally claimed Wawao Builders appeared to know prematurely that it might safe contracts for initiatives in Calumpit, Bulacan, and reported 50% completion inside only a week.
He warned that the misuse of public funds had left communities in Bulacan uncovered to ongoing flooding. “In abstract, whereas the folks of Bulacan stay submerged in floodwaters as a result of corruption of those people — and regardless of the President himself exposing the wrongdoing — the BGC Boys proceed to indulge themselves, losing the folks’s cash with out regret,” Lacson declared.
The scandal has resonated nationally, elevating issues over corruption, monetary crime, and regulatory oversight within the on line casino sector. Paperwork allegedly level to suspicious funding patterns, with speedy disbursements from the Division of Funds and Administration previous spikes in on line casino betting by the identical group of officers. Way of life checks additionally recommended that a few of them had acquired luxurious vehicles and farmland regardless of modest authorities salaries.
The AMLC’s ongoing probe will decide whether or not casinos didn’t uphold anti-money laundering safeguards and will end in sanctions in opposition to operators. In the meantime, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee continues to analyze the DPWH initiatives on the coronary heart of the allegations, underscoring broader issues in regards to the misuse of state funds and the weaknesses of economic oversight mechanisms within the Philippines.
