MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it recovered tens of millions of pesos this month from contractors and former officials implicated in alleged anomalous flood control projects, as restitution agreements and witness protection arrangements moved forward. Justice spokesman Polo Martinez said contractor Sally Santos returned around P15 million to government coffers on Monday as part of her restitution under a memorandum of agreement with the DOJ. Martinez said further details would be released at a later date. Santos, the owner and manager of SYMS Construction Trading, had earlier admitted delivering about P245 million in cash to a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) office in a single day. She also told investigators that she could have delivered as much as P1 billion to the same DPWH office from 2022 to the present. On December 16, former DPWH National Capital Region Director Gerard Opulencia turned over P40 million to the DOJ. Acting Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said the amount formed part of Opulencia’s commitment to return a total of P150 million. Opulencia is a respondent in five cases under preliminary investigation by the DOJ involving alleged ghost flood control projects contracted by SYMS Construction in Balagtas and Pandi, Bulacan. Vida said Opulencia has been provisionally admitted into the Witness Protection Program (WPP), with his formal acceptance as a state witness contingent on full compliance with the memorandum of agreement he signed with the DOJ, which sets the return of P150 million. Earlier, former DPWH Bulacan District Engineer Henry Alcantara turned over the second tranche of funds he allegedly received as kickbacks from flood control projects. Vida said Alcantara surrendered P71,379,500 as part of his commitment to return P300 million. Alcantara returned P110 million on November 28, bringing the total amount he has surrendered to P181,379,500. He still needs to return P118,620,500 to fully comply with the memorandum of agreement he signed under the WPP.