FORMER Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan had just dropped a vicious bomb that could wipe out legislators at the upper chamber of Congress.
Appearing as prosecution witness in the malversation case filed against former Sen. Bong Revilla Jr. and dismissed DPWH engineers, Bonoan made a sweeping claim that “all senators” under the 19th Congress secured themselves of at least P500 million each from the “leadership fund” allotted by his agency under its 2025 budget.
Bonoan himself is facing graft and plunder charges along with incumbent Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in a separate case embarking on the so-called flood control scandal.
In his testimony, Bonoan said that aside from the P500-million allocation for the “priority projects” of each senator, chairpersons of major committees got at least P1 billion.
“For fiscal year 2025, according to records, all senators availed of the leadership fund,” the former DPWH chief added.
When asked by Associate Justice Ronald Moreno to expound the so-called “leadership fund,” Bonoan explained that such a term refers to allocations within the national budget intended to accommodate the senators’ pet projects under the DPWH.
It was then that he mentioned the name of then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri whom he claimed control over the distribution.
“The fund will be under the discretion of the Senate president but there [were] thresholds we have agreed on,” he continued.
In his judicial affidavit, Bonoan said P24 billion was allocated for the members of the Senate but that the amount was subject to Zubiri’s discretion.
Meanwhile, Zubiri denied Bonoan’s claims that he handled any list of projects, but also said there was nothing wrong with “institutional amendments” as long as they were disbursed and implemented properly.
“As Senate President, I never requested, held or handled any list of project requests from senators. I refused to handle any such list. No proposed budget amendments have come through our office,” reads part of Zubiri’s statement.
“All requests were coursed through the Senate committee on finance, which oversees the budget process in the Senate,” he added.
Zubiri nonetheless argued that there is nothing wrong about institutional amendments or “insertions” to the budget provided that the projects are implemented without corruption and free of personal interests.
“Almost all legislators, from senators to members of the House of Representatives, introduce amendments to the budget … That is part of our responsibility as legislators: to help bring much-needed development to communities that have long been left behind,” the senator averred.
“I reiterate that there is nothing wrong with institutional amendments, for as long as projects are properly implemented, that they are neither ghost projects nor substandard projects, and that they are devoid of any influence from the proponent legislators that could lead to corruption,” he quipped.