I never thought of myself as unlucky. When you aim high, it's tough to get there unless something really fortunate happens.
— British actor Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill

MAYPAJO, Caloocan City — We recall in 2022 when the incoming administration of then president-elect Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. was in the process of assembling its new cabinet members and the name of a familiar face came up as head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The erstwhile senator Marcos Jr. announced he's picking San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Tollways president and chief-executive-officer Manuel 'Manny' Bonoan as the new DPWH chief once his administration starts work.
Bonoan, an engineer, has had his previous tenures in the agency he served as an assistant secretary during the Ramos administration, before becoming an undersecretary in the Estrada and Arroyo administrations.
Later on, he became the president and CEO of SMC Tollways, which consist of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), the STAR Tollway, the NAIA Expressway and the Metro Manila Skyway.
“I intend to nominate Manny Bonoan for the DPWH. He has spent almost all his professional life in the DPWH. I know him very well. I know he will do a good job,” the president-elect had hoped.
And now, amidst the failed and 'ghost' flood control projects funded by at least PhP100 billion from tax payers' moneys, Bonoan stays on as DPWH secretary as he is said to still have the trust and confidence of our Ilocano chief executive.

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IT'S been years—actually more than three decades—that I have frequented the National Press CLUB (NPC) on Magallanes Road at the foot of Jones Bridge in Intramuros, Manila and I have never experienced any flood. But thanks to climate change, I've finally witnessed such an unpleasant sight.
I was to attend the Club's weekly Meet the Press media forum and when I got to the NPC, I was welcomed by the guard-on-duty with both feet submerged in ankle-deep waters.
Unfortunate for me, I was told the forum had been canceled—and to think, I had rushed from my house in Maypajo in far off Caloocan City to reach my destination and attend the activity on time.
I asked myself, could this flood at the NPC be just a natural occurrence brought about by increment weather and heavy rainfall due to climate change?
But my mind argued that this has never happened before in the past thirty years!
So, should I blame the city of Manila and it's current administration under our beloved Mayor Francisco 'Isko Moreno' Domagoso for the unexpected flooding?
I don't think so. Mayor Isko had been mayor in the past and the NPC was never flooded even by an inch of water.
Perhaps I have to thank the Department of Public Works and Highways for the flood.
Thank you, Sec. Bonoan. At least I've experienced this unpleasantry for the first time since I became a journalist in 1990.

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