SANDIGANBAYAN ORDERS ARREST OF JINGGOY ESTRADA, BONOAN

THE Sandiganbayan Second Division has issued an arrest warrant and hold departure order against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan in  connection with the graft case filed against them.

The Anti-Graft Court set the bail at P90,000.

The court directed the Quezon City Police District, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to implement the warrant in connection with the alleged role of Estrada and Bonoan in the ghost flood control projects.

Earlier, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the plunder and graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Estrada and Bonoan involved “illicit” payouts amounting to P573 million.

It is the third time Estrada has been indicted for plunder.

The senator on Friday arrived at the Sandiganbayan to post P90,000 bail for the graft case.

Originally named in the complaint were former DPWH Undersecretary Cathy Cabral, former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, former NCR Regional Director Gerard Opulencia and former Bulacan First District engineer Henry Alcantara.

Cabral was dropped from the case after her death.

Meanwhile, Bernardo, Opulencia and Alcantara were formally excluded from the charges following their application to become state witnesses. 

Estrada denied the allegations against him, calling them baseless and without truth.