By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — Former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was “alarmed” after learning that Congress cut 85.59 percent of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) proposed P52.770-billion budget for foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) in 2023, with 8,075 new projects subsequently reflected in the enacted national budget.
Bonoan made the disclosure in his written judicial affidavit submitted to the Sandiganbayan Third Division, where he testified Wednesday against former senator Bong Revilla, who is facing a case for malversation of public funds.
The portion of Bonoan’s testimony containing the details was not discussed by the court during the hearing, while his judicial affidavit was not immediately available to the media at the time. A source confirmed the information Friday.
Bonoan said the DPWH proposed P52.770 billion for foreign-assisted projects under the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP).
When Congress passed the 2023 General Appropriations Act, the allocation was reduced to P7.449 billion, representing an 85.59-percent decrease.
“The budgetary cuts were made through the act of Congress when they passed the [general] appropriations bill (GAB),” Bonoan said.
The executive branch prepares the NEP, which is then reviewed and authorized by the House of Representatives and Senate through the General Appropriations Bill. Once signed by the president, it becomes the General Appropriations Act.
Prosecutors asked Bonoan how he knew that the budget reduction had been converted into inserted projects.
He said he had defended the DPWH’s proposed 2023 budget before both the House and Senate and compared the NEP with the final 2023 GAA.
“There were changes in the programs and projects of the originally proposed budget,” Bonoan said.
“As I stated, there were 8,075 new inserted projects as incorporated and reflected in the 2023 GAA.”
He said the insertion of the new projects was “entirely and exclusively” an act of Congress when it passed the appropriations law.
Bonoan said he reported the budget reductions and the congressional insertions to Marcos.
“The president was alarmed in the reduction of budgets for major items and the inclusion of new items at the detriment of the original programs proposed for the department,” Bonoan said.
He quoted Marcos as saying that the situation could not continue because it would derail the administration’s socioeconomic agenda, particularly its infrastructure program.
Bonoan said the DPWH later developed an approach to address possible budget cuts in succeeding years.
The agency internally called the arrangement the “Senate Leadership Fund,” which began appearing during preparations for the proposed 2024 DPWH budget.
The fund had an allocated limit of P24 billion.
According to Bonoan, each senator was entitled to a minimum P500 million for priority projects, while chairpersons of major committees, including the Senate committee on public works, could receive at least P1 billion.
“While we understand that Congress has the ‘power of the purse’, we nevertheless thought of an innovative way to address the likely situation of ‘budgetary cuts’ in the succeeding years of the Marcos administration,” Bonoan said.
Bonoan testified Wednesday that all senators in the 19th Congress availed themselves of the leadership fund in 2024, including Revilla, who was then chairman of the Senate committee on public works.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was reelected to the Senate in the 20th Congress, called for the abolition of the leadership fund and described it as a “worse” version of the pork barrel.
Lacson said Thursday that the leadership fund is no longer included in the 2026 national budget.
ia/xf
