SEN. Panfilo Lacson said a daughter of former Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan is a part owner of a construction firm in Bulacan which was able to get flood control contracts.

In a privileged speech on Tuesday, Lacson disclosed various corruption schemes inside the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which showed the alleged collusion between the agency’s district engineers (DEs) and private contractors.

The senator, who has been named to chair the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, also revealed names of district and project engineers that allegedly conspired with private contractors who were known as the “BGC Boys” or the Bulacan Group of Contractors -- most of whom frequented casinos using “fake” identities.

They were former Bulacan first DE Henry Alcantara alias Joseph Castro Villegas, Bulacan first district officer-in-charge Brice Ericson Hernandez alias Marvin Santos de Guzman, assistant DE Jaypee de Guzman alias Peejay Casto Asuncion, engineer Arjay Domasig alias Sandro Bernardo Park, and Edrick San Diego.

Ex-DPWH secretary's daughter linked to construction firm in flood control probe, says Lacson

Lacson said that based on records he secured from 13 casinos in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Pampanga they had accumulated P950 million in gross losses.

Ex-DPWH secretary's daughter linked to construction firm in flood control probe, says Lacson

The senator also produced proof of the involvement of a DPWH official who allegedly called up and invited Sen. Vicente Sotto III shortly after he won the senatorial polls last May.

Lacson presented a screenshot of Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral’s text message to Sotto urging the latter to make “insertions” in the 2026 National Expenditure Program. Sotto rejected her offer.

Meanwhile, Lacson also said that the Globalcrete Builders, which collected P2.195 billion flood control projects from 2018 up to 2024 in Bulacan alone, is owned by the Maglanques of Candaba.

Lacson said Mayor Rene Maglanque was the firm’s president in 2024 wherein he himself signed contracts. However, he said that Maglanque should have divested by then being an elected local government official., This news data comes from:http://www.gangzhifhm.com

“This should not come as a surprise. Growing family business, indeed. The web of family names reveals a web of stories,” Lacson said.

The Maglanques own the MBB Global Properties Corporation which runs the P.5 billion Wyndham Garden Hotel in Clark, Pampanga.

He said that in the 2024 General Information Sheet of the MBB Global Properties Corporation would show the following: Macy Monique Maglanque, president; Sunshine Bernardo, corporate secretary; and Fatima Gay Bonoan Dela Cruz, treasurer.

“I repeat -- Maglanque, Bernardo, Bonoan — MBB. Coincidentally, these are known surnames of today’s flood control saga,” Lacson said.

He was referring to Candaba Mayor Rene Maglanque, the patriarch of Maglanques of Globalcrete Builders, contractor of multi-billion worth of flood control projects; former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who earlier opted for early retirement after being linked to anomalous flood control projects; and former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan.

“Maglanque, Bernardo, Bonoan — MBB, It’s up to you to ‘connect the dots.’ By the way, Macy Maglanque, Sunshine Bernardo and Fatima Gay Bonoan Dela Cruz are children of the aforementioned government officials,” Lacson said.

“So, that’s why former DPWH secretary Bonoan always insisted that the ghost project that President Bongbong (Ferdinand) Marcos saw in Bulacan was an isolated case,” he added.

Perhaps Bonoan did not want Globalcrete to be dragged into the investigation on anomalous flood control projects, Lacson said.