The Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday formally filed criminal information before the Sandiganbayan against Senator Jinggoy Estrada for plunder—a non-bailable offense—under Republic Act No. 7080 and violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act under Republic Act No. 3019.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the charges were filed in connection with over P573 million in kickbacks allegedly delivered to the senator from DPWH infrastructure projects in fiscal year 2025.
Clavano announced the filing during a press conference Thursday, saying the charges stemmed from “an intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio” in exchange for “predetermined commission fees or kickbacks.”
Charged alongside Estrada is former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, as well as three NCR engineering officials: Assistant District Engineer Daniel Cesar Cortuna, and District Engineers Manny Bolusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr.
Clavano said the case records “point to an accumulated sum of illicit payouts amounting to an aggregate sum of over 573 million pesos, which were systematically delivered to the principal respondent, Senator Jinggoy Estrada.”
The Ombudsman directly addressed a certificate issued by the Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office stating there is no documented evidence of budget insertions by Estrada, saying the certificate does not tell the full story.
“The LBRMO has issued a certificate regarding the absence of documented initiation of budget insertions by the respondent. However, this certificate does not capture all stages of the budgetary process wherein insertions may be made in a layered method,” Clavano said.
Three individuals originally named in the complaint have been formally excluded from the criminal information filed—former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former NCR Regional Director Gerard Opolencia, and former Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara—all of whom have been admitted into the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program under Republic Act No. 6981.
Clavano said their sworn statements form the backbone of the prosecution’s case. “These state witnesses have provided comprehensive, cross-corroborated sworn statements that map out the execution of this scheme, from its inception down to the logistics of the illicit payouts,” he said.
A fifth original respondent—former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina “Cathy” Cabral—has been formally dismissed from the case by reason of her passing, pursuant to the Revised Penal Code.
The Ombudsman has recommended no bail for all respondents and will pursue Hold Departure Orders to prevent them from leaving the country—meaning that if the Sandiganbayan finds probable cause and issues arrest warrants, Estrada, Bonoan, and the three engineering officials could face detention without bail.
Clavano said the case will be raffled to a specific Sandiganbayan division, which will conduct its own independent evaluation before deciding whether to issue the warrants.
Clavano stressed that the Office of the Ombudsman has one opportunity to get this case right and is determined not to squander it. “Our case is built on solid, immovable evidence,” he said, adding: “The Filipino people need to see justice; this office is here to make sure we deliver just that.”
