Estrada asks court to reconsider dropping of Bonoan in plunder, graft cases

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Jinggoy Estrada urged the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to revisit its move to allow for the dropping of graft and plunder cases against former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan.

In a 20-page motion for reconsideration filed on Sept. 7 but only furnished to the media over the weekend, they said that the sudden discharge of Bonoan from the case “demonstrated a foul play or unfair practice” by prosecutors.

“This belated change of heart on the part of accused Bonoan in order to save himself clearly demonstrates a ‘foul play or unfair practice’ on the part of prosecutors,” the senator’s motion stated. “In fact, accused Bonoan’s sudden ‘cooperation’ raises more doubt as to his qualification as a state witness.”

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Estrada noted that Bonoan only requested his exclusion as a state witness on June 5, and he said Bonoan should have offered to testify as early as the preliminary investigation stage of the Office of the Ombudsman probe.

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“But he did not,” his motion said. “Also, the prosecution, as early as the preliminary investigation stage, could have secured accused Bonoan or any other accused as a State witness. They should have exercised their absolute prosecutorial discretion during this stage but failed to do so.”

The anti-graft court voted 2-1 granting the Office of the Ombudsman prosecutors’ Motion for Leave to File Amended Information to discharge Bonoan from the two cases as the anti-graft body accepted his offer to be a state witness to testify against several personalities implicated in the multibillion flood control corruption scandal.

It was Associate Justice Gener Gito who differed with the majority vote.

READ: One of 3 Sandigan justices opposes move to drop Bonoan from plunder case

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Estrada also banked on Gito’s dissenting opinion.

His motion also cited Gito’s opinion that the court “is kept in the dark” as to how Bonoan would cooperate with the government, what information he would relay to the prosecution, what his testimony would be, and in what cases his testimony would be used.

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Estrada noted that prosecution just wanted the court and other accused to accept its reason to discharge Bonoan “simply because of its discretion on how to prosecute the case.”

“The Honorable Court and the accused would just have to take the Ombudsman’s word for it,” his motion stated.

Prior to his discharge from the case, Bonoan was a co-accused of Estrada, who faces plunder case stemming from alleged “intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations” within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio for fiscal year 2025 worth P573 million, according to prosecutors.

Only former DPWH assistant district engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna and district engineers Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr. remain as Estrada’s co-accused in his plunder case.

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They also opposed Bonoan’s discharge from the plunder case. /cb