Former Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin denied any involvement in the P8.3-billion Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects allegedly linked to him in the so-called Cabral Files.

Bersamin, who is also a former chief justice, expressed shock and outrage over insinuations that the tag “ES” in the files referred to him during his tenure as Executive Secretary.

“I am aghast and outraged at the insinuation that the tag ‘ES’ found in the so-called Cabral Files pertained to me as the then Executive Secretary to whom was allocated P8.3 billion worth of DPWH projects under the GAA 2025,” Bersamin said in a statement sent to Palace reporters on Sunday.

On Saturday, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said documents from the DPWH and from the camp of the late DPWH Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral indicates that at least five Cabinet secretaries and several undersecretaries had “allocables” and or “non-allocables” worth billions of pesos in the proposed 2025 national budget.

Before her death, the Department of Justice was set to refer a plunder case involving Cabral and several DPWH officials in Bulacan to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said the case also involves project proponents who may have benefited from the alleged irregularities.

Lacson said the documents revealed entries showing large amounts linked to high-ranking executive officials, including one identified only as “ES” with P8.3 billion and former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan with allocables totaling at least P30.5 billion for 2025 alone.