Lucas Bersamin and Amenah Pangandaman

Lucas Bersamin, a prominent Filipino jurist and government official, served as the 40th Executive Secretary of the Philippines from 2022 until his resignation in 2025. Prior to this, he was the 25th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (2018-2019) and an Associate Justice from 2009 to 2018. His career in the judiciary began with his appointment as a regional trial court judge in 1986, followed by his elevation to the Court of Appeals in 2003, and eventually to the Supreme Court in 2009 (Wikipedia, Supreme Court E-Library). Bersamin was involved in several notable decisions, including voting to acquit former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of plunder in 2016 and voting in favor of the quo warranto petition that led to the ousting of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in 2018 (Vera Files, Inquirer.net). Despite his distinguished judicial career, Bersamin faced controversy related to corruption allegations. In 2025, he was implicated in the flood control scandal, with sworn statements alleging that the Office of the Executive Secretary received a 15% kickback from ₱2.85 billion in flood-control projects, which Bersamin denied, asserting he was not involved in any budget requests or approvals (Vera Files). He was also linked to the “Cabral files,” which suggested involvement in controversial budget allocations, but he publicly denied any involvement and called for investigations to clarify the matter (Inquirer.net). In November 2025, Bersamin resigned from his position as Executive Secretary, with the Palace stating it was to allow further investigation into these allegations (Philstar). As of now, there are no reports of convictions or formal charges against him, and he has maintained that he is not involved in any corrupt activities. Amenah Pangandaman, the Philippines' Budget Secretary, has also been associated with controversies, particularly related to budget insertions and alleged pork barrel-style schemes. Under her tenure, there have been accusations of enabling lump-sum diversions and questionable budget practices, echoing past scandals involving pork barrel funds. She has been called the “puppet master” behind questionable budget insertions, with investigations revealing her role in facilitating project insertions into the national budget, sometimes without proper approval (Tribune.net.ph). In 2019, a House inquiry linked her to the insertion of P75 billion worth of projects into the DPWH budget without proper authorization, and she was accused of ordering project reformatting and encoding to facilitate budget manipulations. Despite these allegations, there have been no formal charges, indictments, or convictions reported publicly against Pangandaman as of June 2026. She has consistently denied any involvement in illegal activities and remains in her official capacity (Tribune.net.ph).