The Sandiganbayan on Friday, May 29, issued arrest warrants and hold-departure orders against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan in connection with their graft case related to the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
The Second Division, chaired by Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Econg, set the bail at P90,000 each.
Estrada personally went to the Sandiganbayan, accompanied by family members and personal security, to post bail before the Second Division Clerk of Court, granting him temporary liberty.
Bonoan also personally went to the anti-graft court to post bail.
Estrada and Bonoan are also facing a plunder case – which is non-bailable – in the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division over P573 million worth of alleged kickbacks from various flood control projects. They also have another count of graft in the same division.
Estrada is still facing 11 counts of graft over the pork barrel scam.
He has been acquitted of plunder twice. The first was when he and his father, former president Joseph Estrada, were accused of conspiring with each other to acquire hidden wealth amounting to P4 billion from jueteng operations, kickbacks from tobacco excise taxes, stock manipulation and the use of a fictitious account to hide ill-gotten wealth.
Estrada and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles were acquitted of plunder over the alleged misuse of P200 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Estrada was previously convicted of one count each of direct and indirect bribery for allegedly receiving P6.7 million in kickbacks tied to the misuse of his PDAF, although the Sandiganbayan reversed the ruling in August.
NBI ready to arrest
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it would immediately implement the arrest of Estrada once it receives the court orders, following the issuance of a warrant by the anti-graft court.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the bureau was prepared to locate and arrest Estrada in coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
“As a law enforcement agency, as soon as we get hold of the warrant, we will enforce it. We will locate Senator Estrada and bring him to the court of justice for arrest,” Matibag said at a press briefing in NBI headquarters in Manila.
He noted that coordination would also be made with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other authorities once the warrant is formally transmitted to the bureau.
The Sandiganbayan Second Division earlier issued a warrant of arrest against Estrada in connection with a bailable graft case linked to alleged anomalies in government flood control projects.
However, no arrest warrant has yet been issued for a separate non-bailable plunder case filed against the senator, which remains pending before the court.
Meanwhile, the San Juan City Police said they have yet to receive the warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan.
San Juan police chief Col. Anthony Gatang told The STAR that authorities would coordinate with the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group once the warrant is served to their office. He said the warrant would be implemented at Estrada’s residence in San Juan City.
‘Surrender or face arrest’
Estrada has two options after plunder and graft charges over his alleged involvement in the flood control scam – either surrender voluntarily or face arrest.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla broached to Estrada the two scenarios when he talked to the senator over the phone on Thursday, May 28, at around 4 p.m. after the Office of the Ombudsman filed the cases.
“I said either surrender or arrest. He said he will think about it,” Remulla told reporters on the sidelines of the PNP Press Corps 4th Shootfest in Camp Karingal, Quezon City.
Remulla said Estrada has yet to decide as the senator expressed concern over his medical condition as he needs to undergo knee replacement surgery.
In response, the department chief told the senator he should raise the issue of his knees with the Sandiganbayan.
As it would be the third time that he would face jail for a non-bailable offense, Remulla is confident that Estrada will voluntarily surrender to the authorities once the anti-graft court issues an arrest warrant.
“Either way, I think most probably he will surrender after the third time, this is the third time so he’s used to it,” he said.
Should Estrada opt to go into hiding, Remulla said they have police intelligence operatives monitoring the senator’s movements.
Should he surrender, Estrada will be processed most likely at Camp Crame before he is brought to the Sandiganbayan for his commitment order.
Estrada might end up at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Barangay Payatas together with former senator Bong Revilla, who is facing a malversation case over a ghost flood control project in Bulacan.
No control over budget
Meanwhile, the camp of Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez rejected claims that he was a mastermind of the flood control scandal, saying being a former House speaker gave him no control over the national budget process.
Elaine Atienza, spokesperson for Romualdez, said the national budget goes through a “layered, institutional process” that involves the executive, the House of Representatives, the Senate, bicameral deliberations and presidential action.
“The national budget is not made by one man. It is not held by only one office and it cannot be dictated or controlled by the House Speaker. It passes through a long, tedious and multi-layered process,” Atienza said.
She said lawmakers are not the ones releasing the budget for the projects nor do they implement or issue certifications as to their completeness when they turn out to be ghosts, adding that these are all under the executive agencies’ jurisdiction.
Atienza said accountability must be based on evidence, not theory nor opinion.
“It must be based on what a person actually did, not what people assume his title allowed him to do. Sweeping public pronouncements that point to Rep. Romualdez as the grand architect of a collegial and multi-faceted process involving the executive, the House and the Senate do not help the search for truth,” she said.
“Representative Romualdez remains ready to answer all allegations through the proper legal process,” she added. – With additional reports from Mark Ernest Villeza and Emmanuel Tupas