Lacson: Cabral files show ‘allocables’ for 5 in Cabinet
Former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan and at least four other members of President Marcos’ Cabinet—who allegedly had billions of pesos in “allocable” funds in the 2025 budget—may be called by the Senate blue ribbon committee, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Saturday.
“Why would a department secretary have an allocable?” Lacson, who also heads the committee, said in an interview with dwIZ radio. “From my understanding, allocables pertain to project funds for lawmakers.”
Lacson has described allocables as the “new pork barrel.” He noted that he first heard the term from former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo during a blue ribbon committee hearing on the flood control project anomalies in November.
‘ES, P8 billion’
The names of these high executive officials appeared in documents he had obtained from a lawyer for the late former Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, one of the key figures in the ongoing investigation of the flood control scandal.
Her death on Dec. 18 after falling into a ravine beside Kennon Road in Benguet province last week remains a mystery and an investigation continues.
“At least five Cabinet secretaries and some undersecretaries had allocables and/or nonallocables, according to the documents,” Lacson said.
He said among the high-ranking officials was Bonoan, the resigned secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), who had multiple batches of allocables for 2025 that totaled at least P30.5 billion.
“I was surprised at one entry that said ‘ES, P8 billion.’ How did one ‘ES’ get allocables?” Lacson added.
“ES” are the initials commonly used to refer to the executive secretary, who at that time was Lucas Bersamin.
For the districts
Lacson said in the radio interview that the officials may be invited by the Senate blue ribbon committee’s next hearing once the documents, including Special Allotment Release Orders (Saros) dated Dec. 27, 2024, are authenticated by either the DPWH or the Department of Budget and Management.
As the flood control project anomalies were scrutinized, a functional definition of allocables has emerged.
Allocables are funds for local projects distributed to various districts based on their need, population and area size. “Nonallocables” are funds for core or big-ticket projects that are national in scope, such as national roads and bridges and foreign-assisted infrastructure.
Lacson said he received the documents prior to Cabral’s death. According to the senator, before she died, Cabral had expressed willingness to testify on the Saros.
In an exchange of messages with the Inquirer after his radio interview, he said, “Opposite the initials ES is P8,300,000,000.”
“It is what it is. I will not accuse ES Bersamin of being directly or indirectly responsible for it, nor will I assume that he had knowledge about it,” Lacson said.
Cases in court
He did not offer any possible explanation or purpose for the Cabinet members’ allocables when asked by the Inquirer.
“I didn’t have that chance to ask Cabral, nor did her lawyer explain why officials outside both houses of Congress had allocables,” Lacson said.
Since Mr. Marcos launched an anticorruption campaign in August targeting flood control projects, including setting up the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, more than 20 people have been charged in court in four separate graft and malversation cases.
They included resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co and former House appropriations committee head, billionaire contractor Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya and top district and regional government engineers. Co, who is abroad, and several others who are also at large have been declared fugitives from justice.
Bonoan, who has been implicated in flood control anomalies in Bulacan, stepped down on Aug. 31, but insisted that his “conscience is clear.”
On Nov. 17, Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said Bersamin, his grandnephew, Adrian Bersamin, then Presidential Legislative Liaison Office undersecretary, and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, had resigned “out of ‘delicadeza’” following their alleged links to the flood control anomalies.
The former executive secretary later clarified that what he wrote the President was an acknowledgement of the presidential prerogative to replace him, not a formal resignation. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
