The Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday confirmed the arrival of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), weeks after being implicated in the multi-billion-peso flood control scandal.
According to the BI, Bonoan arrived Sunday morning without a companion aboard China Airlines flight CI0701 from Taipei, while under an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) tied to an ongoing investigation.
An ILBO notifies authorities of the movements of individuals linked to active probes but does not bar entry or departure. The Department of Justice ordered the issuance of the ILBO against Bonoan.
Immigration records showed Bonoan left the Philippines on 11 November 2025, traveling to the United States, where his wife was to undergo a medical procedure.
The BI said Bonoan indicated 17 December 2025 as his return date in a letter submitted through counsel on 10 November 2025, but that he did not return by then.
Bonoan’s return comes as the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) recommended the filing of multiple criminal complaints, including graft, against Topnotch Catalyst Builders and DPWH officials over alleged ghost projects in Bulacan.
The possible respondents include Bonoan.
In its report submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman, the ICI recommended the filing of administrative complaints against Bonoan for grave misconduct, gross dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, or for possible violations of Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Daughters named
Malacañang said late last year that Bonoan’s alleged links to a Bulacan contractor will be investigated.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson earlier alleged that Bonoan had a family business connection with Candaba, Pampanga Mayor Rene Maglanque, identified as the former president of construction firm Globalcrete Builders.
Globalcrete Builders reportedly secured P2.195 billion worth of flood control project contracts in Bulacan between 2018 and 2024.
Lacson also claimed that the daughters of Bonoan, Maglanque and former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo are executives of MBB Global Properties.
Based on MBB’s 2024 general information sheet, its executives include president Macy Monique Maglanque, corporate secretary Sunshine Bernardo and treasurer Fatima Gay Bonoan-dela Cruz.
Bonoan resigned from his post amid the investigation into alleged irregularities in the implementation by DPWH of flood control projects.
To recall, the Department of Migrant Workers ordered the return of Maglanque from serving as labor attaché in Los Angeles, California, to allow her to face an investigation.
‘Deportable’
On Thursday, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Bonoan had already overstayed in the United States and could already be deported by US authorities.
“He is in America and is already overstaying. So if the US Embassy or the US State Department determines that Bonoan is overstaying, they can already send him home or deport him,” the Ombudsman said.
“Even if he applied for an extension of stay, if it is not granted, the US State Department can send him back,” he added.
The ICI found Bonoan liable for a ghost flood control project in Bulacan worth P95.04 million and recommended an administrative case over a P72.4-million ghost riverbank project in the same province.
The controversy has since expanded beyond Bulacan, following earlier cases filed over the so-called floodgate scandal, in which projects were allegedly paid for despite being either incomplete or non-existent, with charges already lodged against several contractors and DPWH engineers.
However, questions had been raised on whether accountability is being pursued mainly against contractors and implementing officials, and not against lawmakers and Malacañang officials tagged in the scandal.
Critics have argued that ghost projects could not have moved forward without official funding documents and release mechanisms.
Billions in kickbacks
Expelled Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, who has remained abroad, has accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Speaker Martin Romualdez of allegedly receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks linked to flood control allocations and project releases under the 2025 General Appropriations Act.
The 2025 national budget had been described as the “most corrupt ever.”
In several online videos, Co claimed he left the Philippines on 19 July 2025 for a medical check-up and planned to return after the President’s State of the Nation Address, but alleged that Romualdez instructed him to stay abroad and remain silent.
“I have a direct order: Do not return to the Philippines and remain silent,” Co said in Filipino, adding that he initially believed he would be “well taken care of” as “instructed by the President.”
Co claimed the issue began during the 2024 bicameral conference when Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman allegedly relayed an instruction from the President to insert P100 billion worth of projects, with Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin present during the meeting.
Co said he immediately informed Romualdez, who allegedly replied: “What the President wants, he gets.”
The ex-congressman also presented what he described as a list of proposed insertions, as well as several pieces of luggage, which he claimed contained money intended for delivery to Marcos and Romualdez.