THE Office of the Ombudsman filed on Thursday, May 28, 2026, plunder and graft complaints against Senator Jinggoy Estrada in relation to his alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano led the filing of the complaints against Estrada before the Sandiganbayan.
Estrada is so far the highest government official to face criminal complaints in relation to the flood control mess.
Among Estrada’s co-respondents were former Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan and three former DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) officials, with no bail recommendation.
“The charges stemmed from the intricate mechanism, illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio for fiscal year 2025,” said Clavano.
“Our evaluation show that substantial public funds were deliberately funneled into designated infrastructure projects in exchanged of predetermined commission fees or kickbacks,” he added.
Clavano said based on the investigation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and DOJ, an accumulated sum of illicit payouts amounting to P573 million were systematically delivered to Estrada.
Former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former DPWH Bulacan engineering office officials Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, and former DPWH-NCR director Gerard Opulencia were excluded from the charges since they were already state witnesses.
Charges against former DPWH undersecretary Catalina Cabral were also dropped following her demise.
“Our case is built on solid and immovable evidence. These state witnesses have provided comprehensive cross, corroborated sworn statements that map out the execution of scheme from its inception down to logistics of the illicit payouts,” said Clavano.
Clavano said the Office of the Ombudsman will pursue hold departure orders against Estrada, Bonoan and the other respondents. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)