MALACANANG has asserted that it will not hinder any investigation involving cabinet officials in the controversial insertions into the 2025 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro reiterated that there are “no sacred cows” in the investigation. “The President, in general, has said that whoever is involved should be held accountable… Let’s just let the investigation proceed, and whatever the evidence points to, then file a case,” Castro stated.
This comes after Senate Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson revealed that at least five cabinet secretaries and several undersecretaries had “allocables” and “non-allocables” in the 2025 national budget, allegedly amounting to billions of pesos. According to Lacson, based on documents from the camp of former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral and from the DPWH itself, former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan and an “ES” were among those with allocables.
“At least five. Then there are undersecretaries. I was also surprised, one of them said, ‘ES, P8 billion.’ How can the ‘ES’ have an allocable?” Lacson said. “For Sec. Bonoan, I saw his allocables were P5 billion, then there are Batches 1-3 amounting to P25.5B – P10B, P8B, and P7.5B. It reaches P30.5 billion. What right does he have to have allocables? Then there are also Cabinet secretaries who have P2 billion each. Why?” he added.
Lacson also stated that there were billions in allocables for the House leadership and several party-list groups. Additionally, another cabinet member besides Bonoan allegedly benefited from kickbacks, based on the statement of former DPWH Usec. Roberto Bernardo, who supposedly delivered the money to the official.
The senator said that the officials could be invited to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation once the documents, including Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) dated December 27, 2024, are authenticated. The documents from Cabral’s camp allegedly show that the SAROs were related to the release of P50 billion in unprogrammed appropriations, of which P30 billion was for flood control projects, many of which were found to be “ghost projects.”
Before her death, Cabral had also reportedly stated that she was willing to testify regarding the SAROs. However, according to Lacson, the documents can be authenticated by Budget Officer-in-Charge Rolando Toledo or the DPWH itself. “I’m just basing it on what was given to me by Usec Cabral’s lawyer and other documents I obtained from the DPWH. I can have them authenticated. Why would a Cabinet secretary have an allocable? When it’s allocable, it refers to legislators requesting projects, which shouldn’t be for me either… the NEP is the exclusive domain of the executive branch,” Lacson said.
