Jamaine Punzalan

Sally Santos, owner of SYMS Constructions Trading, attends the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on anomalous flood control projects on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Adrian Ayalin

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176638227915420250918-senate-flood-control-syms-sally-santos-JC0744.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Sally Santos, owner of SYMS Constructions Trading, attends the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on anomalous flood control projects on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA<strong> (UPDATE) </strong>— Sally Santos, the owner of a construction firm embroiled in the flood control scandal, turned over “more or less” P15 million to the government on Monday, the Department of Justice said.</p><p>DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez said the amount was part of the restitution process under the Memorandum of Agreement between the government and potential witnesses in the flood control projects cases being investigated by the justice department.</p><p>“I just received word that the armored vehicles that arrived earlier today carried the amount of more or less PHP 15M as part of the partial restitution by Sally Santos pursuant to the terms of her MOA,” Martinez said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/26/sally-santos-visits-doj-for-witness-protection-bid-1017">Sally Santos visits DOJ for witness protection bid</a></div><div><br/></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:560px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:495px;height:279px;display:block;flex-grow:1" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2002976093637411214&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-12-22T03%3A57%3A27.245986%3A32264f15-1f87-4de2-96ae-6ce0c563a28b%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=a31320d198f0fe0256bf8c80b1aa719bdbe5310c&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" data-tweet-id="2002976093637411214"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><div><strong>ROYALTY FEES FROM &#x27;HIRAM LISENSYA&#x27; SCHEME</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>On Tuesday, the Department of Justice said Santos also assured that she will return the amount she received from the “Hiram Lisensya” scheme in connection with the flood control mess.</p><p>Martinez said Santos will return all the government funds that she got from the scheme which defrauded government of millions of pesos intended for flood control projects.</p><p>“The final amount to be surrendered will be equivalent to the royalty fees Sally Santos received from the &#x27;Hiram Lisensya&#x27; scheme,” Martinez said.</p><p>Martinez added that aside from the P15 million returned by Santos on Monday, she has already returned P5 million early this month.</p><p>“She previously returned P5 million on December 4, 2025 for a total amount of P20 million,” Martinez said.  </p><p>Santos, owner of SYMS Construction Trading, earlier admitted that she <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/18/contractor-says-she-lent-licenses-to-dpwh-engineers-for-use-in-projects-1917">lent her licenses to Department of Public Works and Highways engineers</a> for use in projects.</p><p>She said she collected a 3 percent “royalty” fee from projects brokered through her firm, amounting to millions of pesos.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/8/contractor-admits-sending-p1-b-cash-to-dpwh-1552">Contractor admits sending P1-B cash to DPWH from 2022 to 2025</a></div><p>But Santos denied knowing that her licenses would be used for anomalous infrastructure projects.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-7dCPcKDkG0" title="SYMS owner Sally Santos seeks Senate protection amid fears for her life | ABS-CBN News" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O0A0xtdjIIo" title="&#x27;Sinungaling po sila!&#x27; Sally Santos, Brice Hernandez naglaglagan na | ABS-CBN News" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br/></div>

<p>Sally Santos, the owner of a construction firm embroiled in the flood control scandal, turned over “more or less” P15 million to the government on Monday, the Department of Justice said.</p>

Sally Santos, the owner of a construction firm embroiled in the flood control scandal, turned over “more or less” P15 million to the government on Monday, the Department of Justice said.

DOJ: Syms contractor Sally Santos returns P15 million to gov’t

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DOJ: Syms contractor Sally Santos returns P15 million to gov’t

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 22, 2025 01:47 PM PHT

|

Updated December 23, 2025 03:51 PM PHT

Read More:

Syms

Sally Santos

DPWH

corruption

flood control

baha

budget insertions

kickbacks

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