Bonoan: Senate leadership fund formed after Marcos alarmed over 'insertions'

Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan said the Senate leadership fund was formed after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. expressed concern over the magnitude of congressional insertions in the national budget.

The system was developed as an "innovative" way to curb insertions that take away from the DPWH budget, but it proved unsuccessful in what it sought to do, according to Bonoan’s affidavit, a copy which was exclusively obtained by GMA News.

In the affidavit submitted to the Sandiganbayan Third Division, Bonoan said the problem started in 2023 when budget for the DPWH's foreign-assisted projects were cut by as much as as 88.8%, the deductions from which were "converted" to inserted projects in the General Appropriations Act.

"There were very significant reductions in the original proposed allocations for Foreign-Assisted projects; from ₱70.71 billion to ₱7.938 billion or 88% reduction. All the amounts deducted from the original FY 2023 budget, plus the additional budget allocations in the 2023 GAA totaling PhP 292.715 billion were converted into a total of 8,075 new 'inserted projects' in the GAA shared by both Houses of Congress…," Bonoan said.

The former DPWH chief made the submission as a prosecution witness against former senator Bong Revilla, who is facing a ₱92.8-million malversation case involving alleged anomalous flood control projects.

Bonoan said he raised the matter to the President, who he said was alarmed and ordered him that state resources should be equitably distributed among deserving regions especially to the top 20 poorest provinces.

"I reported it to the President. The President was alarmed in the reduction of the budgets… it will derail the implementation of the socio-economic agenda, particularly the infrastructure program of the administration," he said.

The instruction was given by the President himself during a Cabinet meeting, according to Bonoan.

"The President's instruction was relayed by the President himself. If I'm not mistaken, in the first Cabinet meeting where he emphasized that support to regional development must be continued through equitable allocation of resources, especially the regions that have been left behind," he said.

Senators' projects

Bonoan said the internally named "Senate Leadership Fund" was meant to accommodate the priority projects of senators in the department's National Expenditure Program.

"We nevertheless thought of an innovative way to address the likely situation of 'budgetary cuts' in the succeeding years of the Marcos Administration to already accommodate and incorporate the priority projects of members of the Senate in the succeeding proposed budgets of the DPWH through what we internally coined as 'Senate Leadership Fund,'" he said.

He added: "I recommended that we can allot a certain amount for their priority projects which should be consistent with the core program of the DPWH, then it can deter the legislators from deducting, adjusting, or amending the budgets allocated for the various proposed programs or projects of the DPWH."

Cabinet members

Bonoan said the economic cluster of the administration knew about the Senate Leadership Fund.

"This initiative was in principle acknowledged by members of the Cabinet Economic Team that started in the preparation of the proposed FY 2024 DPWH Budget with internal allocated limit of PhP24 billion," he said.

Bonoan said the fund being ad hoc does not have a fixed amount for each senator, but was subject to the discretion of the Senate president.

There was a minimum of P500 million pesos for each of senator while the Senate president and chairpersons of major committees had at least ₱1 billion pesos in allocation.

In 2024, Bonoan said the Senate availed of ₱13.29 billion and more or less ₱21 billion in 2025.

"For FY 2024, I met with then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and informed him about the leadership fund and the guidelines. Based on the record furnished to me, the availment of the Senate leadership fund amounted to PhP 13.29 billion for FY 2024. Similarly, for FY 2025, I met with the Senate President Francis 'Chiz' Escudero. From the records of the DPWH, the availment of the Senate leadership funds for FY 2025 is more or less PhP21 billion," Bonoan said.

Co, Romualdez, Cabral

Bonoan also said they consulted with then House Speaker Martin Romualdez, former House Committee on Appropriations Chair Zaldy Co, and other legislators about allocations for legislative district that range from ₱120 million to ₱500 million each.

"The budget allocation for the infrastructure program for each and every legislative district as represented by a 'regular' Congressman is computed through the parametric formula (with a baseline allocation of PhP500 million), while a party-list congressman is allocated PhP120 million in FYs 2023 and 2024 and increased to PhP150 million in FY 2025, for their priority projects. I immediately sought consultations with the House of Representatives leadership including House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Chairman Cong. Zaldy Co and other members of the House appropriations committee, majority and minority leaders, as well as political party leaders," he said.

The scheme was a product of Bonoan's meeting with DPWH senior officials including the late DPWH undersecretary Catalina Cabral, who proposed a parametric formula to determine how much a legislative district could get.

"As a result, in coming up with our Infrastructure Development Program, then Usec. Cabral presented to me a parametric formula with seven (7) parameters, including: population, land area, contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), vulnerability to calamities, extent of Infrastructure development, premium for the 20 poorest provinces and project implementation track record," he said.

"After lengthy deliberations, debates, and clarifications, the parametric formula was accepted to be initially the basis for the regional allocation up to the DPWH District Engineering level starting with the FY 2023 infrastructure program. The same formula was also adopted for FY 2024 and FY 2025 thereafter," he further added.

Unsuccessful scheme

However, the scheme proved to be unsuccessful as there were more budget insertions in the 2024 and 2025 budgets.

"The budget for DPWH for GAA 2025 increased due to the inclusion of congressional initiatives," he said.

Bonoan is charged with plunder along with Senator Jinggoy Estrada, but the Ombudsman said it is still interested in getting Bonoan as a state witness despite the denial of the Sandiganbayan Second Division to discharge him from the Estrada case.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier intimated that Bonoan could be a key witness to the case being built against Romualdez. — VDV/ NB, GMA News