If Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan has the balls to admit corruption under his watch, then he should have the balls to quit and hand it over to someone who can tackle it.
After all, his tacit admission of “ghost” flood-control projects under his watch may just as well serve as a confession: that he was unable to stem what critics had called a “culture of corruption” within his agency.
The stunning admission was made as Bonoan, along with other officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), was questioned by members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee last August 19 over the widespread irregularities and anomalies regarding flood-control projects implemented during his term.
Ghost projects
It was during this hearing that Bonoan made the admission of “having received” reports of ghost projects in Bulacan, particularly in Malolos City and the towns of Calumpit, Hagonoy.
These projects were linked to Wawao Builders, one of the 15 contractors alleged by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to have engaged in anomalous flood control deals.
Wawao Builders was allegedly awarded P9 billion worth of projects nationwide, with P5.9 billion concentrated in Bulacan alone.
“My office received reports that there are ghost projects in Calumpit, Malolos and Hagonoy in the province of Bulacan. This is the information we have received. And the contractor, allegedly, are Wawao Builders and SYMS Contractor,” Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said during the hearing.
Pressed by Estrada, Bonoan and other DPWH officials also conceded that some projects were undergoing “validation” and acknowledged information pointing to ghost projects.
DPWH records showed Wawao Builders is owned by Mark Allan Arevalo, while SYMS Construction – another contractor named by the President – is a sole proprietorship owned by Sally Nicolas Santos.
From 2022 to 2025, Wawao reportedly completed 58 flood control projects worth P4.2 billion, while SYMS delivered 16 projects totaling P931.2 million.
The DPWH Secretary’s stunning reply to the senators’ question on whether ghost projects did exist: “In all honesty, Your Honor, I think so.”
Priorities?
Another question hurled at Bonoan during the hearing was: Why were billions in flood control funds allocated to provinces not among the country’s top flood-prone areas?
Senator Erwin Tulfo raised the issue, citing President Marcos, Jr.’s list of flood control project recipients, which showed Cebu, Isabela, Albay, Leyte, and Camarines Sur among the top recipients of funding for flood control.
This, despite the fact that some of these locations were not among the 10 most flood-prone provinces, including Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Oriental Mindoro, and Ilocos Norte.
In reply, Bonoan claimed that allocations under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) are “equitably” distributed to engineering districts nationwide, with 70 percent required to go to the department’s core programs, including roads, bridges, and flood control.
“At the end of the day, these are prioritized based on district proposals and the regional budget process,” he said.
He admitted, however, that additional projects often enter the budget after congressional insertions during the passage of the General Appropriations Act.
Tulfo described allocations to non-flood-prone areas as “a waste of money.”
Bonoan conceded, “Yes, Your Honor. I agree completely,” when asked if the planning process should have flagged such projects.
Given the evidence already out in public and among the hands of legislators, the Secretary’s use of the word “equitably” is laughable at best.
What does he mean by that? “Equitably” distributed among the 15 contractors named by the President and their alleged accomplices in Congress and even inside his own agency?
Grand robbery
The big question senators should ask DPWH officials is: given that they already have "suspicions" that these projects could have been just shell projects designed to swindle the government of millions, why in the world they did not do something about it?
The bombshell admission made by Bonoan could only serve to verify what has been an "open secret": that DPWH officials have long colluded with corrupt politicians and contractors in this wholesale robbery.
In any case, the most honorable thing he could do is resign from his post and have President Marcos appoint someone who can really wipe out the culture of corruption that has only served a few contractors, to the detriment of the Filipino people who have long suffered from heavy floods.
(With report from the Philippine News Agency)
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