Former Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan left for the United States via Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon, the Bureau of Immigration confirmed.

According to BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval, Bonoan remains covered by an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) issued earlier by the Department of Justice.

However, he was cleared for departure after authorities verified that no hold departure order or warrant of arrest was in effect against him.

“Upon encounter, immigration officers immediately coordinated with the DoJ (Department of Justice) to verify if a hold departure order or warrant of arrest was in effect. The DoJ confirmed that none exists, hence, he was cleared to depart,” Sandoval said in a statement.

Bonoan’s trip comes a week after the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) submitted an interim report to the Office of the Ombudsman recommending administrative charges against him and several former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials.

The commission’s findings stem from an alleged P72.3-million flood control project anomaly in Plaridel, Bulacan, involving what it described as “ghost” and unauthorized relocation works.

The ICI report alleged that “the anomalous scheme perpetrated by senior DPWH employees was made possible because Secretary Bonoan betrayed the trust reposed in him and he failed to exercise simple diligence tantamount to fraud in ensuring the judicious use of public funds entrusted to the DPWH.”

Investigators further claimed that acts of plunder “happened right under Bonoan’s nose,” saying that if not for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s public address calling attention to questionable flood control spending, “the inexcusable negligence of former Secretary Bonoan would have caused the further plunder of funds.”