Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo personally submitted lists of priority projects for senators seeking to tap “leadership funds” for inclusion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan testified.

Taking the witness stand in the malversation trial of former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Bonoan said Bernardo submitted project lists not only for Revilla but also for Sens. Bong Go, Jinggoy Estrada and Robin Padilla.

Bonoan also described Revilla and Bernardo as “mag-kumpare,” adding that the former undersecretary would accompany him during official visits to Revilla, who then chaired the Senate Committee on Public Works.

Once submitted to the DPWH, the project lists were forwarded to the office of the late Undersecretary Cathy Cabral for final vetting by the agency’s planning division to determine whether they would be included in the department’s proposed budget.

Bonoan said Cabral’s office later reported that all senators had availed themselves of leadership fund allocations for the 2025 national budget.

How ‘leadership funds’ worked

During redirect examination, state prosecutors asked Bonoan how the leadership funds were created and incorporated into the NEP.

Bonoan said the mechanism emerged during budget discussions in 2024 as an “ad hoc allocation” intended to ensure that senators’ priority projects were funded.

“The leadership fund came about because of the numerous cuts from the budget of 2023, when it came out as the General Appropriations Act...to our surprise, many of the core programs of the department were reduced drastically,” Bonoan told the court.

“To avoid the repetition of this cuts being made, we thought that it would be better if we already include the priority projects of the Senate in the budget of the department,” he added.

Bonoan said there was no formal process for senators to avail themselves of the fund. Instead, senators would convey their proposed projects through DPWH officials.

He said he discussed the arrangement with then Senate President Miguel Zubiri, with Senate leadership determining the allocation thresholds.

Each senator was allotted at least P500 million, while chairpersons of major Senate committees could receive up to P1 billion. Bonoan said Revilla was among those entitled to the higher amount.

He added that some senators, particularly Revilla and Sen. Imee Marcos, had thanked the DPWH for assisting them in accessing the leadership funds.

Bonoan stressed, however, that there was nothing inherently illegal about senators availing themselves of the allocations.

P92.8M project inserted through ‘errata’

Bonoan also testified about another method of adding project funding to the budget through an “errata,” or correction, submitted directly to the House Committee on Appropriations.

Unlike projects already incorporated into the NEP submitted by the Department of Budget and Management, Bonoan said the inclusion of projects through errata was subject to the discretion of the House appropriations panel.

He explained that errata were corrections to project information originating from district offices or the project's identified proponent.

The P92.8-million alleged ghost flood control project at the center of Revilla’s malversation case was inserted into the budget through an errata, Bonoan testified.

It was Bonoan’s first testimony in a Sandiganbayan case linked to the multibillion-peso flood control controversy.

The former DPWH chief himself faces pending plunder and graft charges before the anti-graft court’s Second and Fifth Divisions.