Sandiganbayan issues arrest warrant vs Jinggoy Estrada for plunder
The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has issued an arrest warrant against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for his non-bailable plunder case in connection with his alleged receipt of P573 million in kickbacks from flood control projects.
The warrant also ordered the arrest of former Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan, former DPWH district engineers Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr., and assistant district engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna. This is in connection with their alleged links to the flood control scandal.
Interior Secretary and officials of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group were spotted at the Senate after the warrant was issued. However, the CIDG members declined to specify why they were on the premises.
The new arrest warrant comes days after Estrada posted P90,000 bail for a graft charge. The anti-graft court's Second Division ordered his arrest on May 29.
The Second Division also issued a hold departure order against the senator amid corruption allegations alongside Bonoan and others.
Earlier on Monday, Estrada, in a statement, said he filed motions seeking the dismissal of the plunder case against him in connection with the flood control scandal.
"In anticipation of the possible issuance of an arrest warrant in the plunder case filed against me, I respectfully urge the Court to first give due consideration to the motions I have already filed and to uphold the principles of due process," he said.
"Today, my legal team filed a third pleading—an Urgent Omnibus Motion Ad Cautelam—praying that the information be quashed; the case be dismissed with prejudice, or, in the alternative, that the proceedings be suspended and the case remanded for reinvestigation and/or the completion of the preliminary investigation," he added.
After Estrada posted bail for graft, his lawyers immediately filed pleadings before the Sandiganbayan seeking the consolidation of the cases and the deferment of the issuance of any arrest warrant.
"I firmly believe that I am entitled to avail myself of the remedies available under the law, including the filing of a motion for reconsideration, especially considering that I received a copy of the Ombudsman Resolution on the plunder case only on Friday evening," Estrada said.
He went on to stress that it is "only fair and just" that he be allowed to fully exercise these legal remedies before any coercive measures are taken against him.
"Hindi ito pag-iwas sa pananagutan sa batas, kundi pagtindig sa aking karapatan sa due process at sa pagkakataong maihain at maiparinig ang aking panig sa tamang paraan. Buo ang aking loob na harapin ang kasong ito at patunayan na walang katotohanan ang mga ibinibintang sa akin," he ended.
Estrada is being charged with plunder and graft by the Office of the Ombudsman, along with Bonoan and others, for allegedly maneuvering allocations, rigging public bidding processes, and siphoning government funds stemming from major national infrastructure budget systems.
Former DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez named Estrada as among the senators allegedly involved in kickback schemes in Bulacan, but the senator has since denied the claims.
This is Estrada's third plunder case. 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.
