Bonoan clinically stable, taking medication in hospital arrest — PNPGH

Former Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan is clinically stable but is still taking medication to control his hypertension amid his hospital arrest, the Philippine National Police General Hospital (PNPGH) said Wednesday.

PNPGH Internal Medicine chief Lieutenant Colonel Benaly Bayani said Bonoan's hypertension is currently controlled with medication.

"Si Engineer Bonoan presently clinically stable po siya, controlled sa ngayon ang hypertension niya. Under po siya ng medications," Bayani told reporters in an interview.

(Engineer Bonoan is currently clinically stable, and his hypertension is under control for now. He is on medication.)

Bayani said Bonoan remains under the supervision of the hospital's medical team, adding that there are currently no major concerns regarding his health.

"Every hearing naman po, nakikita niyo naman po siya, monitored niyo naman po siya na uma-attend siya. So stable po naman siya. Wala naman po problema," Bayani said when asked if Bonoan is safe to go out.

(You can see that he attends every hearing, you monitor his attendance. So, he is stable. There are no issues.)

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division recently granted the Ombudsman's motion to drop Bonoan from the plunder and graft charges involving former Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

Voting 2-1, the court ruled that it was within the Ombudsman's "prosecutorial discretion" to determine which accused it would use as a state witness.

"The decision to move for the discharge of an accused is part of the Ombudsman's prosecutorial discretion of who should be used as a state witness, to bolster the successful prosecution of criminal offenses," the court said based on a copy of the decision obtained by GMA News.

Last May, the Ombudsman charged Bonoan and others with allegedly conspiring to amass more than P500 million in kickbacks from flood control projects. — VDV, GMA News