Sen. Lacson alleges DPWH engineers cashed in billions from casinos

Senator Panfilo Lacson alleged that five former engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Bulacan, dubbed the 'BGC Boys' or 'Bulacan Group of Contractors,' cashed in billions of pesos from various casinos between 2023 and 2025.

Lacson presented these accusations in a privilege speech, suggesting the transactions could be part of a money laundering scheme.

The involved former DPWH officers were identified as Henry Alcantara, Brice Ericson Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig, and contractor Edrick San Diego.

Casino records presented by Lacson detailed significant cash-to-chips and chips-to-cash transactions made by Alcantara, Hernandez, and Mendoza under assumed identities.

Specifically, Henry Alcantara, using the alias Joseph Castro Villegas, had P1,428,170,000 in cash-to-chips transactions and P997,765,000 in chips-to-cash transactions.

Brice Hernandez, alias Marvin Santos De Guzman, reportedly engaged in P659,910,000 in cash-to-chips transactions and P1,385,360,250 in chips-to-cash transactions.

Citing information from PAGCOR, Lacson stated the engineers lost P950 million from casinos.

However, Lacson alleged that the engineers engaged in a money laundering scheme when they "miraculously" won millions of pesos at a casino in Pasay City from Aug. 31, 2023 to April 4, 2024, with specific win amounts provided for Alcantara (P4,707,106), Hernandez (P189,068,665), Mendoza (P320,106,072), Domasig (P7,379,485), and San Diego (P11,798,050).

Lacson said their wins are allegedly fake, and his team is still validating reports.