By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINES’ former executive secretary refuted the Presidential Palace’s claim that he voluntarily stepped down “out of delicadeza,” denying he had a hand within the alleged P52-billion insertion on this 12 months’s spending plan.
Former Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin on Wednesday said he didn’t file nor sign a resignation letter, contrary to what Malacañang said only two days before.
“The one letter I sent regarding my position being vacated was the one I signed late yesterday (Nov. 18) afternoon, where I said ‘I bow to the prerogative of the President’,” he told Palace reporters in a phone call in mixed English and Filipino.
“I may also not validate any claim that I resigned if there is no such thing as a such resignation.”
Mr. Bersamin was accused of adding P52 billion price of insertions within the 2025 national budget, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, Sr. said on Tuesday, quoting former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto M. Bernardo.
In line with the senator, Mr. Bernardo learned this information from now-resigned Education Undersecretary Trygve L. Olaivar, who said former Public Works Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan had asked Mr. Bersamin how they might cope with the cash.
“They (Mr. Bersamin) supposedly would take charge of handle the P52 billion,” Mr. Lacson told the Senate plenary in the course of the 2026 budget deliberations.
Mr. Bersamin likewise “vehemently” denied this claim in a separate Viber chat to Palace reporters late on Tuesday.
“Bernardo couldn’t be a reputable source of relevant information if his knowledge looks and feels like a minimum of triple hearsay,” he said.
Malacañang on Monday announced the supposed resignation of Mr. Bersamin and then-Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, who has also been implicated within the controversy.
Mr. Bersamin recounted that a “close friend” called him up at around 12 p.m. on Monday to tell him that he might be leaving the highest Cabinet post. He accepted this possibility on the time, saying he was “only serving on the pleasure of the President.”
“You ask them in the event that they (Presidential Communications Office) had a letter,” Mr. Bersamin said. “I never did resign.”
Following their exit, former Finance chief Ralph G. Recto took over as executive secretary, while ex-economic czar Frederick D. Go moved to go the Finance department. They took their oath of office before President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Wednesday morning in Malacañang.
Mr. Bersamin challenged his accusers, including Mr. Lacson and Mr. Bernardo, to formally charge him as he would answer accusations in an accurate forum.
He said he talked with the President on Monday evening but refused to elaborate on their conversation.
DEFENSIVE, NOT INSTITUTIONAL
The removal of Mr. Bersamin from office shows the federal government is addressing the scandal “defensively, not institutionally,” Ederson DT. Tapia, a political science professor on the University of Makati, said in a Facebook messenger chat.
“When a top official says he didn’t resign but was simply told to step aside, it signals that responses are being shaped by pressure and optics, somewhat than by a transparent, rules-based accountability process,” he said, noting this leaves public in confusion whether the reshuffle was meant to correct or merely to contain.
Gary D. Ador Dionisio, dean of the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s School of Diplomacy and Governance, said the Marcos administration is under pressure each politically and publicly, which should prompt rapid responses to explosive claims from key whistleblower Mr. Bernardo.
Nonetheless, Mr. Bersamin’s denial suggests the handling of the widening Marcos-related scandal has been poorly managed and unlikely to encourage public trust, he noted.
“If this administration is not going to act together, a social volcanic of dismay and anger might explode to their face,” he said via Facebook Messenger.
In line with political science lecturer on the Ateneo de Manila University Hansley A. Juliano, Mr. Bersamin, who stood as chief justice within the Duterte administration, had long been related to political forces considered problematic.
His positions on security issues, sometimes at odds with Mr. Marcos’ direction, suggest he likely lost the President’s confidence.
“I’d wager he lost the President’s confidence, if he ever had it,” he said via Facebook Messenger.
ANGARA RESIGNATION CALLS
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara, who was also implicated within the scandal, said he doesn’t see a must step down as allegations against him are only “hearsay.”
“There are not any specific accusations yet. There’s no mention of any transaction or anything,” he told reporters in Filipino. “So, if that were delivered to court, it will be dismissed.”
The previous senator was accused of getting kickbacks from fund insertions during his time because the chair of the Senate Committee on Finance from 2019-2024.
As finance chair, not only did he oversee the passage of the national budget annually, he also sat on the bicameral conference panel’s so-called “small committee,” where a lot of the alleged fund insertions reportedly took place.
His statement comes amid intensified scrutiny of officials accused of involvement in a corruption scandal tied to public works projects, allegedly funded through insertions within the national budget.
In an earlier testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Mr. Bernardo implicated several senators as supposed “proponents” of infrastructure projects in exchange for kickbacks.
In a supplemental affidavit, Mr. Bernardo claimed that Mr. Angara and ex-senators Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares, Ramon “Bong” B. Revilla, Jr. and Ma. Lourdes Nancy S. Binay-Angeles allegedly received as much as 25% of a project’s cost as a part of the so-called “commitment,” a euphemism for kickback, from items inserted into the budget bill.
Mr. Lacson on Tuesday said Mr. Bernardo had given him details alleging that Mr. Olaivar, a longtime aide of the Angara family, received kickbacks from irregular public works projects.
Mr. Olaivar allegedly took deliveries representing 12% of project costs between 2019 and 2024.
He resigned on Tuesday as education undersecretary.