One billion pesos stolen daily at DPWH

VIRTUAL REALITY

- TONY LOPEZ

Finally, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr (PBBM) ousted Manuel Bonoan as his secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the largest Cabinet department in size of budget, over P1 trillion a year, at least half of it stolen, per the math of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Bonoan is replaced by Transportation Secretary Vivencio "Vince" Dizon, 51, one of the youngest and the most dynamic members of the PBBM cabinet, bar none.

Bonoan presided over the largest premeditated plunder of taxpayers' money, our money, at the rate of ONE BILLION PESOS PER DAY, or more than P1 trillion (1,000 billions) from 2022 to 2025.

Most of the P1 billion is flood control money. From 2023 to 2025, DPWH's flood control budget totalled P1.001 trillion (1,001 billions).

Under Bonoan, only 36 percent of the P1 trillion was spent for actual flood control projects, numbering more than 9,000, leaving more than P640.64 billion to be pocketed by bad contractors, bad government district engineers and equally bad senators and congressmen who nitpicked the budget to insert the money to be stolen in the guise of flood control. In 2025 alone, according to Bonoan himself, P450 billion was added to the year's budget — to cover bogus flood control projects.

Vince Dizon was President Rodrigo Duterte's action man — having been president and CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority 2016-2021, presidential adviser for Flagship Projects 2019 to 2022 and COVID response czar. On Feb. 21, 2025, Marcos Jr. made him DOTr chief.

In deploying Vince to DPWH, BBM hopes to calm the smoldering crisis triggered by the massive flood control scam and plunder.