Leadership fund not a Marcos administration program — Palace

The so-called "leadership fund" for lawmakers as claimed by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan was never a program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration, Malacañang said on Monday.

"When it comes to leadership fund, never itong nabanggit sa Pangulo at ito rin ay dineny ng economic team. So kung mayroon man silang paguusap among themselves dito sa DPWH, hindi po ito kailanman naging programa ng pangulo. At hindi po nakalagay ang leadership fund sa GAA," said Palace Press Officer Claire Castro at a press briefing.

(When it comes to the leadership fund, this was never mentioned to the President and was also denied by the economic team. So if they had discussions among themselves here in the DPWH, this was never a program of the President. And the leadership fund is not included in the GAA [General Appropriations Act])

Bonoan earlier claimed that a "leadership fund" is allocated by the DPWH for senators recommending a list of projects. Each senator allegedly had a P500-million allocation, while those who have committee chairmanships received P1 billion each, he claimed.

Several senators denied the claims.

The Palace earlier said that Marcos has no knowledge of the so-called "leadership fund." It added that even incumbent Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has no idea about the matter.

When asked if Bonoan could be a state witness, the Palace said there are no talks about it.

"Hindi napaguusapan po 'yan. So depende na po 'yan sa korte, depende na po 'yan sa prosecution, sa Ombudsman, sa state prosecutors. Pero hindi napaguusapan ang patungkol sa isyu kung kinakailangan maging state witness si Secretary Manny Bonoan," said Castro.

(That is not being discussed. So that will depend on the court, that will depend on the prosecution, the Ombudsman, and the state prosecutors. But the issue of whether Secretary Manny Bonoan needs to become a state witness is not being discussed.) — RSJ, GMA News