Sandiganbayan 2nd Division issues arrest warrant against Estrada

The Sandiganbayan 2nd Division has ordered the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada over his alleged involvement in the flood control controversy.

ABS-CBN News reported on Friday, May 29, that aside from an arrest warrant, the court's 2nd Division also issued a hold departure order against Estrada amid corruption allegations he's facing alongside former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan and others.

Later in the day, Estrada personally posted a P90,000 bail for graft.

In a statement sent to GMA News, Estrada shut down the corruption accusations anew.

"Mariin kong itinatanggi ang mga paratang laban sa akin. Ang mga ito ay walang batayan at walang bahid ng katotohanan," the senator said.

"Umaasa ako sa patas na pagtrato, due process, at pagiging walang kinikilingan sa pagdinig ng kasong ito. Nagtitiwala ako na sa huli, mananaig ang hustisya at ang katotohanan," he added.

On Thursday, May 28, the Ombudsman filed plunder and graft charges against Estrada, Bonoan, and others as recommended by the Department of Justice for supposedly maneuvering allocations, rigging public bidding processes, and siphoning government funds stemming from major national infrastructure budget systems.

Estrada was named by former DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez as among the senators allegedly involved in kickback schemes in Bulacan. The senator has since denied the claims and filed perjury charges against Hernandez in December 2025. The DOJ junked the case due to a lack of evidence.

This is Estrada's third time facing corruption accusations.

In 2001, he was jailed for plunder alongside his father, Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

Then in 2014, he was detained over his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, where he was accused of channeling Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to bogus non-government organizations linked to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

He was later granted bail in 2017 after the Sandiganbayan ruled that the evidence against him for plunder was not strong, although the case itself remained pending.