Jay Sonza released from detention after posting P270,000 bail

Former broadcaster Jay Sonza was released from detention on the evening of Aug. 22 after posting bail for various charges.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said Sonza was released from the QC Jail - Ligtas COVID Center Quarantine Facility in Payatas before 9 p.m.

He posted bail worth P270,000 for libel and 11 counts of estafa.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 already dropped the syndicated and large-scale illegal recruitment charges against Sonza as complainants failed to attend the hearings.

It was on July 18 when the broadcaster was intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 after discovering that he has a pending estafa case. Sonza was supposedly on his way to Hong Kong.

He was detained after immigration officials discovered an active warrant for syndicated and large-scale illegal recruitment against him.

Sonza was then turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation on Aug. 3, and then to the BJMP.

Sonza worked as a news anchor in ABS-CBN, GMA, and ABC-5. He's known for the Kapuso program Mel and Jay alongside Mel Tiangco.

He also became the station manager of UNTV.

Aside from his broadcast journalism career, Sonza also took his stab at politics, running for senator in 2004 and vice president in 2010 but lost.