Lacson: Bonoan dangled P500 million to get CA nod

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday flagged the use of the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing of former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan to allegedly insert P500 million in flood control projects that may have been lost to corruption.

Speaking to dzMM yesterday, Lacson said his Blue Ribbon committee probe on flood control corruption may be winding down, but his investigative work on inspecting ghost or substandard projects does not stop there.

“The flood control issue is a longer story. There are areas we haven’t touched yet. My team and staff will continue its research with the help of reports from netizens,” the Senate President Pro Tempore said in Filipino.

He said his explosive privilege speech on flood control corruption detailed nonexistent or substandard projects in Bulacan, Oriental Mindoro and Pampanga, with several more in other provinces and cities, such as in Metro Manila, where a pumping station project sponsored by a certain congressman worsened – instead of alleviated – the flooding in the area.

Another “interesting” scheme Lacson learned through his investigation is how flood control and other infrastructure projects were used like carrots on a stick during Bonoan’s confirmation hearing on Nov. 22, 2022.

He said former DPWH undersecretary and now state witness Roberto Bernardo had told him that Bonoan promised “P500 million thereabouts” worth of DPWH projects to a CA member from the House of Representatives contingent, who promised to share it with colleagues.
“His colleagues, ultimately, complained that they did not receive anything. It looks like he kept the P500 million to himself,” Lacson said without naming anyone.

He said it is still a “work in progress,” using Bernardo’s records, trying to validate the list of P500 million worth of flood control and other infrastructure projects which were allegedly dangled to House members in exchange for Bonoan’s confirmation.

The CA public works and highways committee, which confirmed Bonoan’s ad interim appointment, was chaired by then SAGIP party-list representative and now senator Rodante Marcoleta, Lacson’s arch critic on how the Blue Ribbon flood control corruption probe was handled.