Metro Manila, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan fifth division has ordered the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for his non-bailable plunder charge on Monday, June 1, in connection with the flood control scandal.
The same division has also issued arrest warrants for Estrada’s co-respondents, including former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan. Others were:
+ Manny Bulusan – district engineer
+ Arturo Gonzales – district engineer
+ Denryl Cortuna – assistant district engineer
The court also released the warrant for the bailable graft charge against the five respondents.
Ahead of the release of the warrant, Estrada filed an omnibus motion seeking to dismiss the case and appeal for a reinvestigation. He also previously filed a motion to withdraw the issuance of arrest warrants.
The ombudsman filed the charges with the anti-graft court on May 28 for what it called an “intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) infrastructure portfolio” in 2025.
The ombudsman said Estrada alone pocketed over ₱573 million in supposed kickbacks from infrastructure projects.
On May 29, Estrada and Bonoan posted a ₱90,000 bail with the court’s second division for the graft charge.
Plunder is a non-bailable offense, so the senator may serve time at the New Quezon City Jail, the detention facility for the accused in the flood control scandal, pending the trial.
The senator earlier said he will exhaust legal remedies.
It is Estrada’s third plunder case in less than three decades. He was acquitted in two different cases such as the jueteng scandal in 2001 and the pork barrel scam in 2014. He is out on bail over a pending graft case related to the pork barrel scam.
READ: Jinggoy Estrada’s history of plunder cases
