Sandiganbayan orders release of Bonoan

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division on Thursday ordered the release of former Public Works Secretary Manuel “Manny” Bonoan from hospital arrest, two days after it approved his removal as an accused in two cases stemming from the flood control corruption scandal.

State witness

The Office of the Ombudsman earlier moved to turn Bonoan into a state witness in similar cases. Its first step was to ask the court to get him off the graft and plunder cases where Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and three former district engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were his co-accused.

“He is a free man. There’s no more legal reason for us to detain him. It’s up to him where he wants to be medically treated,” said Col. Allen Rae Co, PNP public information chief.

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READ: Dissenting view: Bonoan removal as co-accused questioned

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The former DPWH chief had been under hospital arrest since June at the Philippine National Police General Hospital (PNPGH) in Camp Crame due to several illnesses.

Co said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group was still processing Bonoan’s release as of press time.

On Wednesday, PNPGH internal medicine chief Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani said Bonoan was clinically stable but was still under maintenance medication.

Bonoan was previously named as coaccused of Estrada and DPWH district engineers Manny Bulusan, Arturo Gonzales Jr. Denryl Caesar Cortuna over alleged P573 million worth of kickbacks from flood control projects. /das