Arrest warrant for Jinggoy Estrada in plunder raps? Up to Sandiganbayan

The liberty of Senator Jinggoy Estrada now hinges on whether the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division will give due course to his motions seeking a judicial determination of probable cause of the P573 million non-bailable plunder case against him.

Estrada is facing the charges along with ex-Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan, former DPWH-North Manila Engineering District Office Assistant Engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna, former DPWH District Engineer Manuel Bulusan of the South Manila District and ex-Quezon City 1st District Engineer Arturo Gonzales, Jr.

On Friday, the Sandiganbayan Second Division issued an arrest warrant against Estrada and Bonoan over a related graft case. They both paid the P90,000 bail for their provisional freedom.

In his motion to withhold the issuance of the warrant of arrest, Estrada asked the court to “make an independent judicial determination of probable cause” based on the criminal information, Ombudsman resolution, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI letter, Department of Justice (DOJ) resolution, affidavits, documentary evidence, and all supporting records of the prosecution.

“The filing of an Information does not automatically authorize the issuance of a warrant of arrest. The Constitution requires that probable cause for the issuance of a warrant must be personally determined by the judge… The judge is not bound by the prosecutor’s recommendation,” the motion read.

The senator’s camp also claimed that “there is no factual basis to conclude that accused Estrada committed any offense.”

“At most, the documents furnished to accused Estrada contain sweeping accusations that he was supposedly involved in an alleged mechanism concerning budgetary insertions and DPWH projects. But conclusions, conjectures, and generalized imputations do not amount to probable cause for arrest,” they said.

Estrada’s camp also alleged that “the records furnished to accused Estrada do not show that he initiated, proposed, inserted, sponsored, or caused the inclusion of the specific project subject of this case in the GAA (General Appropriations Act).”

“… A lawfully-enacted GAA enjoys the presumption of regularity. The mere existence of an appropriations in the GAA does not, without more, establish criminal participation by a Senator in the implementation, procurement, release, or disbursement of funds for a particular DPWH project,” their motion said.

The pleading also stated that Estrada is not a flight risk as he is a sitting senator living in the Philippines with his family and that he holds no other citizenship aside from his Filipino citizenship.

“There is no compelling necessity to place accused Estrada under immediate custody, particularly where the factual and legal bases for the charges remain unclear to him because he has not yet received the Information and the complete supporting records,” the motion said.

GMA News is seeking the Ombudsman’s side as of posting time.

Based on the Information filed by the Ombudsman obtained by GMA News, the Office of the Special Prosecutor of the Ombudsman alleged that Estrada amassed some P573.75 million in kickbacks from flood control projects in alleged connivance with Bonoan and other officials of the DPWH-National Capital Region.

The information alleged that Estrada unlawfully demanded, solicited, or received, directly or indirectly, from then DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo “a so-called ‘commitment’” equivalent to 25% of the total project budget.

Estrada was also accused of receiving P360 million in commissions from flood control projects in the National Capital Region and Occidental Mindoro and another P213.75 million from Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office projects and other Bulacan District Engineering Offices.

“Accused Estrada and Bonoan facilitated, or otherwise caused to be included or inserted in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB), and/or Bicameral Conference Committee Report (BICAM) and the General Appropriations Act (GAA), for fiscal year 2025; which ‘commitment’ was raised by accused Cortuna, Bulusan, and Gonzales, Jr.,” the information added. — JMA, GMA News