Jinggoy Estrada files petition for bail in plunder case
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has filed a petition for bail before the Sandiganbayan 5th Division in relation to a plunder charge linked to alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
This comes after the anti-graft court junked Estrada's motion to fix bail, deeming it "premature and devoid of legal basis."
"Until accused Estrada files the appropriate application for bail and the court, after the requisite hearing, determines that the evidence of guilt against him is not strong, there is no occasion for the court to fix the amount of bail," Sandiganbayan 5th Division's Associate Justice Gener Gito stated in a ruling penned on July 24.
The detained senator's motion asserted that there is no strong evidence from July 2024 to March 2025 that Estrada amassed, accumulated, or acquired ill-gotten wealth amounting to P573 million.
It further denied that Estrada "willfully and unlawfully demanded, solicited, or received" 25% kickbacks from former Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo in flood control projects.
Additionally, it maintained there is no strong evidence that Estrada and fellow accused former DWPH secretary Manuel Bonoan facilitated any infrastructure or flood control project into the 2025 national budget.
On July 29, Palace Press Officer Usec. Claire Castro said that only the Sandiganbayan can decide whether Estrada and fellow detained Sen. Rodante Marcoleta can participate in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial.
Marcoleta, like Estrada, is detained at the New Quezon City Jail over a P75 million plunder charge.
Despite being detained, Estrada was elected the chairperson of the Senate committee on electoral reforms.
The senator is currently under a 90-day preventive suspension ordered by the Sandiganbayan on June 17.
Corruption allegations vs Estrada
Estrada was named by former DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez as among those who were 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.
On 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 surrendered to authorities on June 1.