Metro Manila, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has ordered the release of former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, favoring the ombudsman petition to drop plunder and graft cases linked to the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
In an order dated Thursday, Sept. 3, the court directed the Philippine National Police Health Service General Hospital to release Bonoan, recalling the commitment order issued on June 19.
In a resolution on Sept. 1, the fifth division granted the prosecution motion to drop Bonoan as a co-accused of Senator Jinggoy Estrada and other public works officials, in a bid to turn him into a state witness in flood control cases.
Two Sandiganbayan justices granted the petition, one was against.
Bonoan’s case stemmed from his alleged involvement in what the ombudsman called “an intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio” in 2025.
The Sandiganbayan also recalled the hold departure order against the former public works chief.
Bonoan is facing another bailable graft charge at the second division, which in August denied the ombudsman motion to exclude him from the case for lack of merit.
The former Cabinet official resigned in September 2025 at the height of the flood control controversy.
