Palace: Marcos Unaware Of Leadership Fund; Senators Up In Arms

President Marcos had no knowledge of the alleged “leadership fund” for senators’ pet projects under the 2025 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Malacañang issued the statement on Thursday, Aug. 13, after former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan testified before the Sandiganbayan that all senators in 2024 availed themselves of the “leadership fund” of at least P500 million each.

Palace press officer Claire Castro said Marcos would not have permitted such a scheme or venture if he was aware of it.

“If the President knew it, it would not have happened,” Castro said in a press briefing.

“If the President was aware of it, he would not have tolerated it. But these kinds of discussions are usually done in secret,” she added.

Malacañang also vowed to ensure that the succeeding national budgets would not be tainted with such irregularities.

Asked if the “leadership fund” was part of an agreement between Bonoan and the senators then, Castro replied: “According to him. We are just basing on what he said. So, personal knowledge, none.”

“No one has knowledge whether it is a personal discussion between secretary Bonoan and the local official,” she added.

Testifying before the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division, which is trying the malversation case against former senator Bong Revilla over an anomalous flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan, Bonoan on Wednesday claimed the 2025 DPWH budget contained allocations for the pet projects of senators totaling P24 billion.

Bonoan claimed that then Senate president Miguel Zubiri had discretion over the amount to be given to each senator and that committee heads could be allocated as much as P1 billion.

Castro gave assurance that there is no such “leadership fund” in the 2027 budget of the DPWH. “All projects proposed in the 2027 DPWH budget are based on needs of the local and regional government, and if needed, secured clearances from RDC (regional development council)... to ensure that these benefit the people. Only projects that have complete documentary requirements such as plans, programs are submitted to ensure compliance with DBM (Department of Budget and Management) guidelines,” she said.

“If this happened before, it won’t happen now.” Castro clarified that there is nothing wrong with such projects as long as they are beneficial to the public and are free from kickbacks. “The President is careful, the DPWH is careful and the DBM is careful so that the abuses that happened way back then, the President does not want them to happen,” Castro said.

Lacson: No leadership fund in 2026 budget

Sen. Panfilo Lacson has assured the public that there is no more “leadership fund” in the existing 2026 national budget and will no longer be a practice in the upcoming 2027 outlay.

Lacson said the leadership fund was the “creation” of Bonoan with the late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, adding that while it’s not illegal, it was “improper.”

The term was first brought up by Bonoan during the Senate Blue Ribbon hearings last year on the flood control anomalies.

The “allocable” fund for congressional leaders disrupted the regular bottom-up budgeting process of originating the outlay from the grassroots level, Lacson said.

“That’s why the budget process was disrupted, because of these shenanigans, so to speak,” Lacson said in a chance interview on Thursday.

Lacson said since the 2013 abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund or “pork barrel,” a new discretionary fund evolved under the name “allocable,” which is being offered by DPWH officials to legislators.

“A new one was invented and it’s even worse,’” Lacson said. “And what a term ha – alok-alok (offering),” he said.

Lacson said he has confidence in new Senate finance committee chairman JV Ejercito to weed out leadership funds during the upcoming deliberations on the 2027 national budget.

Ejercito also denied knowing the existence of a leadership fund.

“I don’t have any idea,” he said. “Rest assured that as the chairman of finance, reforms will continue.”

Senators up in arms

Senators took time during Thursday’s plenary session to refute Bonoan’s allegation with Zubiri denying that he had the discretion on allocating the fund to each senator.

Zubiri denied holding any project listings when he was Senate president from 2022 to 2024, and that the project requests to lawmakers were coursed to the finance committee chair.

“For the record, as Senate president, I never requested, held, or handled any list of project requests from senators. I refused to handle any such list,” Zubiri said.

“The senators know that,” he said, adding that there is nothing wrong with “institutional budget amendments” if the much-needed projects funded were fully implemented.

Sen. Imee Marcos also refuted Bonoan’s claim that she had thanked him as a fellow Ilocano for ensuring funds for her pet projects.

“I always thank the departments if they have any projects in Ilocos Norte. Secretary Bonoan is my province mate. I don’t know what he’s saying about me thanking him,” said Marcos.

Senators Robin Padilla and Bong Go also took exception to Bonoan naming them as among the senators who sought help from former DPWH undersecretary and now state witness Roberto Bernardo.

Padilla said his alleged project listings were even marked as “for later release,” which means funding for his pet projects were withheld.

Go also denied submitting any project listings to Bernardo, adding that funding for his projects has not been released the past three years.

“Mr. Bonoan is the one facing trial here. He is the accused. It would be best that he focuses his defense on proving his innocence rather than dragging our work as legislators into their mess,” Go said.

“What list is he (Bonoan) talking about?” he added.

Sen. Pia Cayetano took the cudgels for Zubiri.

“I approached Senator Migz when I saw the news article. I said, ‘why is this malicious?’” Cayetano said.

“We don’t tolerate corruption here,” she added. – With Marc Jayson Cayabyab