Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday rejected allegations that senators in the previous Congress each received at least 500 million pesos from a 24-billion-peso public works “leadership fund.”

Former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan on Thursday testified in a Sandiganbayan trial that all senators in the previous Congress had availed of the fund for infrastructure projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 2025 budget.

“I’m 10 years in the Senate and I’ve never heard of this leadership fund,” Gatchalian said in a radio interview. “It was never offered to me, whether by the DPWH or anyone from the Senate.”

Bonoan, testifying as a prosecution witness in a case involving former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., said the fund was created in 2024 after the DPWH saw major cuts to its core programs in the 2023 budget.

He said the fund totaled P24 billion, with at least P500 million for each senator and up to P1 billion for chairpersons of major committees.

Gatchalian, who chaired the Senate finance committee during the previous budget cycle, said no such arrangement existed.

“All our amendments were proposed on the floor or proposed in the committee, and we uploaded all of them on the website,” he said.

He also denied discussing the fund with former Senate presidents Juan Miguel Zubiri and Francis Escudero, whom Bonoan said were involved in discussions over allocations for previous budgets.

“Never. Never did we discuss that,” Gatchalian said.

Bonoan told the court that the fund was under the discretion of the Senate president at the time, Zubiri, who has denied handling any list of senators’ projects.

Gatchalian said senators can propose projects requested by local governments and agencies, but such requests must pass through the budget process and are not guaranteed funding.

He warned that pre-arranged allocations could give lawmakers undue influence over contractors.

“If there are pre-arranged agreements with contractors, there is already money. You have power over that fund, and you allocate it to your favorite contractors. That is not right,” he said.