Ex-public works chief Bonoan back in PH
Former Public Works Secretary Manuel “Manny” Bonoan arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday morning, according to the Bureau of Immigration.
Bonoan arrived from Taipei via a China Airlines flight without any travel companion, the agency said.
The former head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) left the country in November last year to accompany his wife for a medical procedure in the United States. His supposed return date was on Dec. 17, 2025.
Bonoan was the subject of an immigration lookout bulletin order on the request of the Department of Justice in relation to the investigation of the alleged flood control project anomalies when he was still at the helm of the DPWH.
He was also set to receive a subpoena from the Senate after he failed to appear in one of its inquiries on the flood control scandal.
In a recent media forum, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said that Bonoan “deliberately” sent Malacañang wrong grid coordinates for the flood control projects.
These coordinates were then used on the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” (Report to the President) website, which was created in line with the President’s order during his fourth State of the Nation Address to investigate irregularities in flood control projects in the light of repeated widespread flooding during the typhoon season.
The website urges citizens to fulfill their civic duty by directly reporting to the President any nonoperational or anomalous flood control projects in their areas.
Lacson accused the former secretary of “misleading” the President to “ruin the credibility” of investigations into nonexistent flood control projects.
The senator said that Bonoan will once again be invited to the blue ribbon committee hearings on the flood control mess, warning that if Bonoan fails to attend under a subpoena, he may be cited in contempt.
The panel that Lacson heads is set to resume its probe today, Jan. 19.
