Sandiganbayan justice openly questions DOJ immunity granted to Bernardo and Alcantara

The bench-level skepticism surfaced during testimony from witness Rivera in the P92.8 million Pandi, Bulacan ghost-dike malversation case against Revilla. Rivera testified that he delivered cash kickbacks to Alcantara roughly fifty times, in amounts ranging from P2 million to P10 million per delivery. Justice Moreno responded from the bench by asking why the Department of Justice had granted state-witness immunity to Bernardo and Alcantara when testimony placed them as the scheme's alleged architects. Bernardo and Alcantara are the two cooperating witnesses on whose affidavits and sworn statements the May 28, 2026 Ombudsman plunder case against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan was built. Their testimony is also the foundation of the Sandiganbayan's June 1, 2026 plunder arrest warrant in that case, the May 22, 2026 Ombudsman plunder filing against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta and Mike Defensor, and the ongoing Revilla Pandi proceedings. A bench question is not yet a ruling, but it is the first time on the public record that a sitting Sandiganbayan justice has challenged the immunity grants that anchor the prosecution strategy across the flood control docket. Defense counsel for multiple respondents have moved separately to disqualify the two as state witnesses or to suppress their testimony; the issue is now squarely in front of the Third Division.