Where Are the Billions Coming From? The DPWH Maleta Mystery
This blog digs into the DPWH Maleta Mystery after an MCT Community Member asked how crooks manage to move so much cash without triggering any alarms. It explains the loopholes, testimonies, and weak points in the system that allowed billions to slip past banks and regulators. Most of all, it looks at what this says about accountability in a country already tired of corruption.
8 min read
I’ve been following the DPWH flood control scandal since day one, and there’s something that never stops bothering me long after the hearings end. Those suitcases. The ones stuffed with cash. The ones quietly delivered to homes, condos, and gated villages like they’re nothing more than balikbayan boxes.
Filipinos watching this mess are asking the same thing. Where are they getting all that cash without banks or the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raising alarms? How do you walk into a branch and pull out hundreds of millions in a single day, in a country where regular people get questioned for depositing a few hundred thousand pesos? And why use cash at all in a time when everything—from bills to remittances—is digital?
The deeper you go into the testimonies and timelines, the more you see the pattern. The whole setup quietly makes this kind of corruption possible.
How Half a Billion Pesos Walked Out in Two Days
Take Syms Construction Trading. This case shows the entire playbook in action.
On March 24, 2025, and again on July 3, 2025, its owner, Sally Santos, withdrew ₱457 million in cash from LandBank’s Malolos, Bulacan branch. Twice in the same year. A typical branch vault holds around ₱3 million, so those withdrawals were about 152 times the normal reserve.
You don’t just stroll in and ask for that. That kind of release needs advance coordination with BSP, regional heads, and LandBank’s main office. Everyone involved knows something massive is about to move.
Government money becomes suitcase money because of a pipeline called LDDAP–ADA. It starts when DBM releases funds under the General Appropriations Act. DPWH sends LandBank a list of accredited contractors and their allocations. The Bureau of the Treasury issues a Notice of Cash Allocation. LDDAP–ADA is generated, the bank automatically debits the government account, and the contractor’s account gets credited within twenty-four hours. By the next banking day, the contractor is already withdrawing the entire amount in cash.
No checks. No digital trail. Money meant for public works becomes tightly packed bundles inside a maleta in less than two days.
And inside the bank, the mindset is almost automatic. The branch manager even said she didn’t suspect anything because the money “came from the government and DPWH for the project.” In her head, if the source is government, it must be legitimate. That’s the blind spot. The origin alone becomes the justification, no matter how ridiculous the amount looks.
The Regulatory Blind Spot: “Covered” Doesn’t Mean Watched
On paper, the rules look strict. Under AMLA, banks must file a “Covered Transaction Report” for any cash movement above ₱500,000 in a single day. But the real safety net is the “Suspicious Transaction Report.” And that one depends entirely on bank employees deciding something looks off.
Almost none of these government-linked withdrawals ever get labeled suspicious.
In September 2025, BSP even issued Circular No. 1218, supposedly tightening requirements and demanding enhanced due diligence for big transactions. Still, AMLC admitted during hearings that they're “fully dependent on bank evaluation and self-reporting,” especially for huge withdrawals. If banks file CTRs and avoid filing STRs, AMLC stays blind.
Meanwhile, small NGOs and individuals have had their accounts frozen over ₱35,000 or ₱19 million. Yet billions tied to contractors and politicians slide through the system with barely a question.
Ordinary people get interrogated. Connected people get a polite nod.
The Shield of Bank Secrecy
Then you hit the wall that protects everyone who knows how to use it: bank secrecy.
The Philippines has some of the strictest bank secrecy laws in the world. What was originally designed to promote trust in the banking system has become a shelter for illicit wealth.
The Supreme Court requires that depositors be informed before investigators probe their accounts. Even in bribery or dereliction of duty cases, investigators still need a court order or the depositor’s written permission. Imagine trying to investigate corruption and needing the corrupt official to approve the inquiry.
It gets even worse with old accounts. Bank accounts opened before 2001—the year AMLA was enacted—were initially treated differently, and many still enjoy extra protection today.
Senator Escudero has been filing bills for years requiring public officials to waive bank secrecy and allow the Ombudsman access to their accounts. Those bills never pass. Congress consistently avoids approving anything that would expose their own finances. The Department of Finance has also warned that without lifting bank secrecy for criminal cases, the country stays powerless against corruption and tax evasion.
And still, nothing changes. The law stays strong enough to shelter the powerful and fragile enough to pressure those without influence.
Why Corrupt Actors Still Choose Suitcases
People still wonder why cash is the preferred method when wire transfers and cryptocurrency exist.
Cash has something digital systems don’t offer: true disappearance. There are no usernames, no account numbers, no logs tied to the movement. Once money leaves the teller’s hand and goes into a suitcase, it slips out of sight.
Wire transfers are convenient but dangerous for criminals. They create permanent electronic records, pass through regulated banks, and are easy to reconstruct. In fact, about 76% of global fraud and laundering attempts involve wire transfers because banks can trace them.
Crypto isn’t the safe haven some imagine. Every transaction lives on the blockchain. Specialists can trace wallets even after mixers. Investigators link wallet activity to real identities regularly. Even the UK’s National Risk Assessment considers crypto a medium risk for laundering. Cash, on the other hand, remains high risk.
Crypto may look anonymous to regular users. To trained eyes, it’s loud. Cash stays quiet.
The Maleta Trail: Billions in Cash on the Move
Testimonies from drivers tied everything together.
They admitted delivering eight to ten suitcases at a time to former DPWH official Roberto Bernardo and Representative Zaldy Co. Each suitcase carried ₱48 to ₱50 million, often with post-it notes showing exact amounts. Some of them even called the cash “basura.”
One trip involved forty-six suitcases brought to Zaldy Co’s Valle Verde home. Out of those, eleven went to a penthouse in Shangri-La BGC. The remaining thirty-five were delivered to a Forbes Park residence linked to Speaker Martin Romualdez.
That’s around ₱2.3 billion moving across Metro Manila in bags. No blockchain. No OTPs. No transaction logs. Just cash disappearing the moment it leaves the bank.
Smurfing and Structuring: The Quiet Tricks
While the DPWH scandal showed mountains of cash withdrawn in a single shot, the banking system has long been vulnerable to smaller, quieter tricks.
Smurfing happens when a large amount like ₱100 million is broken into tiny pieces. People deposit or withdraw amounts like ₱450,000, spread across various accounts, branches, and individuals. Each movement looks harmless. The total picture is far from it.
Structuring works the same way. Instead of taking ₱10 million at once, someone repeatedly pulls out ₱3 million over days or branches. Automated systems don’t detect a spike. They only see smaller movements that never cross alarm thresholds.
Most monitoring tools focus on single large events. They don’t always catch patterns spread across time, branches, and different names. On paper, everything looks normal. On the ground, it’s coordinated laundering.
What Needs to Change
After everything revealed in hearings, the vulnerabilities are obvious. The laws are weak, and the parts that do exist aren’t enforced the way they should be.
Government-linked accounts shouldn’t enjoy full bank secrecy. Public money shouldn’t be treated like a private stash. Every peso must be accessible to scrutiny.
Cash withdrawals for government-funded accounts should also have a hard limit. Anything above ₱5 million shouldn’t be released in bills. Big disbursements should move through digital channels. If contractors truly need cash, they should be ready to explain why.
AMLC must also be allowed to suspend suspicious withdrawals in real time. Acting later is pointless when the money is already inside someone’s home.
Huge withdrawals from government-linked accounts should automatically be tagged suspicious, not just covered. Banks shouldn’t decide what “looks fine.” Not with these amounts.
And bank officials who approve insane withdrawals without raising questions should be held accountable. Signing off on ₱457 million in cash isn’t innocence. It’s involvement.
The Real Cost of the Maletas
Whenever I picture those suitcases, I see more than money. I see classrooms that never got repaired. Flood control systems that exist only in press releases. Hospitals where families wait because there aren’t enough beds or doctors. Roads that crumble after the first rainy season.
Those maletas didn’t just carry cash. They carried every public service we didn’t receive.
The billions aren’t vanishing because of a mystery. They vanish because the system lets them walk out the door without a fight.
And unless the system changes, this story will keep repeating itself. Same script. Same silence. Same suffering for the people who pay the price.
SOURCES:
Why Zaldy Co's “Suitcase Story” Doesn't Match the Marcos ...
https://www.facebook.com/morningcoffeethoughts2/posts/-why-zaldy-cos-suitcase-story-doesnt-match-the-marcos-playbook-an-opinion-P1B in suitcases delivered to Zaldy Co's penthouse, 2 ex- ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw0wM_2lNOcDPWH, ICI push plunder raps vs Romualdez, Co - News
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2144459/dpwh-ici-push-plunder-raps-vs-romualdez-coEx-DPWH exec Bernardo tags Bonoan, more lawmakers in ...
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/966102/ex-dpwh-exec-bernardo-tags-bonoan-more-lawmakers-in-flood-control-mess/Flood control projects scandal in the Philippines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_control_projects_scandal_in_the_PhilippinesMay pera sa 'basura'! Ex-Marine bodyguard claims Eric ...
https://bilyonaryo.com/2025/09/25/basura-talaga-ex-marine-bodyguard-claims-eric-yap-dropped-46-cash-filled-suitcases-in-valle-vePhilippines central bank tightens rules on large cash ...
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-central-bank-tightens-rules-large-cash-withdrawals-amid-corruption-2025-09-19/Smurfing in money laundering: how to detect and prevent it - azakaw
https://www.azakaw.com/blog/smurfingCrypto-to-cash services open up a new dirty money world
https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/crypto-cash-desk-currency-exchange-money-laundering/The Reason Why Withdrawing Half A Billion Pesos in ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/1nq0r9y/the_reason_why_withdrawing_half_a_billion_pesos/Is a P100-million cash withdrawal a suspicious transaction ...
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/960354/is-a-p100-million-cash-withdrawal-a-suspicious-transaction-it-depends-sBSP limits cash withdrawals to PHP 500k a day
https://wealthinsights.metrobank.com.ph/bworldonline/bsp-limits-cash-withdrawals-to-p500k-a-day/Escudero: Full bank secrecy enables corruption, reform ...
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1253501'PH bank secrecy laws strictest in the world' | Inquirer News
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/147567/ph-bank-secrecy-laws-strictest-in-the-worldSmurfing vs. Structuring: Decoding Money Laundering Techniques
https://namescan.io/insights/smurfing-vs-structuring/What is Smurfing? Here's How “Micro-Money Laundering” Works
https://chargebacks911.com/smurfing/Why Some Prefer Cash
https://www.opselcompliance.com/why-some-prefer-cash/Does easy availability of cash affect corruption? Evidence ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0939362517300092Bags of billions in cash and how taxpayers' money slipped ...
https://tribune.net.ph/2025/09/25/bags-of-billions-in-cash-and-how-taxpayers-money-slipped-from-banks-into-suitcasesLandBank insists DPWH contractor withdrawals above ...
https://bankero.com.ph/landbank-insists-dpwh-contractor-withdrawals-above-board-fully-compliant-with-banking-rules/big-banks/₱457m cash withdrawals put Land Bank under Senate ...
https://asianjournal.com/philippines/across-the-islands/%E2%82%B1457m-cash-withdrawals-put-land-bank-under-senate-probe-in-floodLANDBANK ISSUES STATEMENT ON DPWH BULK ...
https://www.facebook.com/PhilippineSTAR/posts/landbank-issues-statement-on-dpwh-bulk-withdrawalthe-land-bank-of-the-philippine/Contractors nag bibigay ng ADVANCE PAYMENT para ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGjLT4-SsloEx-DPWH official Henry Alcantara tags Revilla, Estrada, ...
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/23/henry-alcantara-tags-revilla-estrada-villanueva-co-in-budget-insertions-kickbacks-Ex-Bulacan DPWH exec Henry Alcantara breaks silence ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iM5on994KsHow a Bulacan DPWH engineer built a flood of corruption
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2139248/how-a-bulacan-dpwh-engineer-built-a-flood-of-corruptionVisualizing the staggering scale of flood control corruption
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2118008/what-billions-look-like-visualizing-the-staggering-scale-of-flood-control-corruptionLANDBANK says DPWH transactions legal
https://www.bworldonline.com/the-nation/2025/09/29/701770/landbank-says-dpwh-transactions-legal/Pagwi-withdraw ng contractor na si Sally Santos ng halos ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV-SctCWMmILandBank grilled over P457-M withdrawal of contractor tied ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHe_dpUsio4LandBank said its clients who want to withdraw more than ...
https://www.facebook.com/ANCalerts/posts/landbank-said-its-clients-who-want-to-withdraw-more-than-p500000-in-cash-must-no/124566All transactions complied with law, above board, and in ...
https://www.landbank.com/news/landbank-all-transactions-complied-with-law-above-board-and-in-accordance-with-mandated-proceduresSenator Francis Pangilinan has questioned Land Bank of ...
https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS/posts/senator-francis-pangilinan-has-questioned-land-bank-of-the-philippines-malolos-h/12907LandBank denies irregularities in contractors' huge cash ...
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/09/30/2476405/landbank-denies-irregularities-contractors-huge-cash-withdrawalsLandBank: Transactions with DPWH above board
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1259772
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