Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Panfilo “Ping” Lacson expressed doubt over the claim of innocence made by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) former Secretary Manuel Bonoan regarding alleged corruption in the agency’s flood control projects.

In a report of RH 28 Raymund Dadpaas, Lacson found it difficult to believe Bonoan's claim of having no knowledge of the DPWH’s large-scale irregularities, as Bonoan was the agency’s top official.

Lacson explained that Bonoan retired as Undersecretary in 2010 and was later appointed as Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2022. The senator pointed out that Bonoan is no stranger to the department, having served in it for over four decades.

Therefore, the senator questioned the credibility of the former DPWH secretary’s claim that he was unaware of the alleged corruption within the department, particularly in the substandard and ghost flood control projects linked to former officials of the Bulacan First Engineering District.

Lacson emphasized that any official who rose through the ranks, someone who started at the bottom and worked their way up, would naturally have insight or awareness of what happens on the ground.

According to Lacson, there are only two possible explanations if Bonoan insists he knew nothing: “either he is in on the corruption, or he is incompetent."

He cited his own experience as an example, saying that even before he became Chief of the Philippine National Police, he already had a sense of what was going on among his subordinates because that, he said, is what “command responsibility” is all about.

Bonoan earlier denied any involvement in the allegations of corruption within the DPWH. During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing last Tuesday, he explained that his role was merely to consolidate project requests from various district offices and members of Congress.

It may also be recalled that earlier this month, Lacson linked Bonoan to anomalous flood control projects.