WHEN FACED WITH public indignation over inefficiency, corruption, fund misuse, the outlawed pork barrel system, and other distrustful activities in public service, Filipino executives (from the president down to the last barangay tanod) would do everything to cling to the post, until told to leave. Kapit tuko silang lahat.
Unlike other cultures like Japan where officials remove themselves from office because of public service irregularities, Filipino executives think that unless told to leave, the appointing power has the last say – despite public clamor for them to vacate their post and face the legal music.
Is this plain pride (over such sins) or just self righteousness?
Curiously, the common pattern of erring officials who vacate their post is to quit for “health reasons” — far from the active social and business lifestyle that they’re accustomed to.
Next, they book themselves in private hospitals and show themselves in public riding wheel chairs (after then president Joseph Estrada was charged with plunder on jueteng money) and wearing neck braces (which was first popularized by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo).
The recent imprisonment (again) of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and his plea for hospital arrest because of a torn knee joint (which is why he was on a wheelchair), is just another example of a template among incarcerated officials.
Bonoan’s Luck
Some, like resigned (more aptly removed) former Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan, are lucky enough to be removed from a plunder charge by the court upon the lobbying of the Ombudsman, who saw his usefulness as a vital state witness to pin down former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a trillionaire by now.
At the hearing at the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division on Tuesday, Bonoan finally confessed that he was asked to resign by Malacanang, although the order was not directly told to him by the President.
He said he was asked to resign from his post a year ago amid public outrage over the flood control corruption scandal.
And since he was removed from the plunder charge, what happens now to the money/ kickbacks he earned from the flood control project mess – considering he was the head of the office that perpetuated it.
Would he not remit to the treasury as part of his goodwill, or would it just be part of his personal loot/ funds? But those are public funds from taxes paid by hapless taxpayers.
The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division hearing was in connection with the trial of former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla, presided by chairperson Associate Justice Michael Frederick Musngi, who noted the timing of Bonoan’s appearance and asked why he resigned to which he replied: “Your Honor, I was asked to submit a courtesy resignation.”
In August 2025, a month after Marcos exposed the flood control scandal in his 4th SONA and launched his anti-corruption drive in infrastructure projects, Bonoan maintained that he would remain at his post, as resigning would be to “turn [his] back to the problem.” Days later, the palace confirmed Bonoan’s resignation, with Marcos explaining that it was due to “command responsibility.”
Bonoan was ultimately charged alongside Sen. Jinggoy Estrada over a purported scheme involving P573 million in kickbacks.
Bonoan was summoned in court to testify in the Revilla graft case, involving the P76.91-million “non- existent or ghost” flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan. Bonoan previously testified in the malversation case against Revilla before the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
It was there that Bonoan revealed that DPWH created a “leadership fund” availed by “all senators” in 2024—including Revilla, who then chaired the chamber’s public works committee—in a bid to address budget cuts to the agency.
Bonoan maintained that there was nothing wrong with the leadership fund and that “In fact, all the projects submitted by the proponent senators are vetted and conform with the programs of the department.”
Bonoan confirmed meeting several times with Revilla only to “discuss the status of pending bills pertaining to the DPWH,” particularly on the declaration of national roads and additional engineering districts.
Bonoan said he had no personal knowledge of Revilla’s requested projects since the list had been supplied to him via then Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo.
At the end of the hearing, the prosecution said it will present 20 more witnesses in the Revilla case, with DPWH Assistant Secretary Alex Bote up next on Sept. 8.
To recall, just last August 3, the Sandiganbayan Second Division rejected the Ombudsman’s request for the removal of Bonoan in the plunder complaint because it planned to use Bonoan as state witness to help pin down several personalities implicated in the multibillion-peso flood control irregularities.
The prosecution had asked the court to remove Bonoan from the charge sheet and make him a state witness to strengthen the case to be filed against former House Speaker Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, over the flood control scam.
In just a month, what made the Sandiganbayan change its mind on Bonoan’s case. In effect it has absolved him of any corruption or plunder when he was at the center of flood control projects.