Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Ejercito Estrada now faces fresh plunder and graft charges before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court after the Office of the Ombudsman formally filed one plunder count and two graft counts against him on Thursday, May 28, 2026 — allegations rooted in what investigators describe as a deeply embedded scheme involving illegal kickbacks from Department of Public Works and Highways flood control projects budgeted under Fiscal Year 2025.
The charges were lodged at the Sandiganbayan by Assistant Ombudsman Jose Dominic “Mico” Clavano IV. With the filing, Estrada becomes the highest-ranking sitting government official to face indictment in the sprawling flood control corruption controversy that has drawn scrutiny to infrastructure disbursements under the current administration.
This marks the third occasion in a span of 25 years that plunder or related charges have been brought against Estrada, who is the son of ousted former President Joseph Estrada.
Investigators Describe an ‘Intricate Mechanism’ of Budget Insertions
The Office of the Ombudsman said investigators found evidence of what the agency characterized as an “intricate mechanism” involving illegal insertions and manipulated project allocations within the DPWH’s infrastructure spending portfolio. According to the Ombudsman, case records indicate that illicit payments exceeding P573 million were “systematically delivered” to Estrada as the principal respondent.
The charges were brought under Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in addition to the plunder count. Under Philippine law, plunder is a non-bailable offense and requires that the total amount of ill-gotten wealth reach at least P50 million — a threshold the Ombudsman said the present case far surpasses.
The Ombudsman has also recommended that no bail be granted to the respondents and has signaled plans to seek Hold Departure Orders to prevent those charged from leaving the Philippines while the case remains active. The cases have been distributed by raffle to Sandiganbayan divisions, which will decide whether to issue arrest warrants.
Former DPWH Chief Bonoan and NCR Officials Charged as Co-Accused
Several other officials were charged alongside Estrada. Former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who has publicly denied any involvement in corruption, is among the co-accused. Also charged were three DPWH-National Capital Region officials: District Engineers Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr., and Assistant District Engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna.
Charges that had been filed against the late DPWH Undersecretary Catalina “Cathy” Cabral were dropped following her death on December 19, 2025. Meanwhile, former officials Roberto Bernardo, Henry Alcantara, and Gerard Opulencia were excluded from the complaints after being admitted as state witnesses by the Department of Justice.
According to the Ombudsman, this filing constitutes the fourth batch of cases related to the flood control controversy since Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla took office in October 2025. The indictment followed a DOJ recommendation submitted on May 11, 2026, and originated from a complaint filed by the Public Works and Bid-Rigging Task Force of the National Bureau of Investigation in coordination with the DOJ.
Estrada Denies All Charges, Invokes Due Process and Budget Records
In a public statement issued after the filing, Estrada denied every allegation and pledged to “exhaust all legal remedies.” He pointed to a letter from the Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) as documentation that no record exists showing he made any insertion into the 2025 national budget — a piece of evidence he said was deliberately set aside by investigators.
Estrada argued that he was not given sufficient opportunity to review and respond to the resolutions issued by both the DOJ and the Ombudsman before the case was elevated to the Sandiganbayan, which he described as a violation of his right to due process.
“We will exhaust all legal remedies. At present, my lawyers are preparing the appropriate legal steps to show the irregularities in the process, as well as the evidence that was not given sufficient weight and consideration. Among these is the letter from the Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office, or LBRMO, stating that there is no record showing that I made any insertion in the 2025 national budget. This is a crucial piece of evidence that directly disproves all allegations against me, yet it was deliberately set aside,” Estrada said in his statement.
The senator also questioned the speed of the proceedings, noting that the Ombudsman filed the charges barely a week after the DOJ issued its resolution — without, he argued, conducting its own independent fact-finding inquiry, a step he described as a procedural requirement before cases are brought before the Sandiganbayan.
“It is also noticeable that, since the change in leadership in the Senate, the cases involving certain members of the majority bloc have moved with unusual speed. Barely a week after the DOJ issued its Resolution in my case, the Ombudsman immediately filed the case without conducting its own thorough and independent fact-finding investigation,” Estrada added.
He closed his statement on a defiant note: “As I have said before, if this is the price that I have to pay for standing by my principles and for what I believe in, then so be it. I will continue to seek the truth and defend my name in the proper forum and in accordance with the law.”
Origins of the Case: A House Inquiry in September 2024
The allegations that form the basis of the current indictment were first aired publicly during a House of Representatives inquiry held in September 2024. At that hearing, a witness alleged that Estrada received at least P350 million in what was described as “SOP,” or standard operating procedure commissions, from flood control projects in Bulacan that were reportedly inserted into the 2025 national budget.
Those revelations helped trigger a broader multibillion-peso flood control scandal, which has since prompted multiple legislative and executive-level investigations into DPWH infrastructure contracts and allegations that legislators were involved in a fund insertion scheme.
A Third Major Legal Battle Spanning 25 Years
The current case adds yet another chapter to Estrada’s extensive legal history. In 2001, he was charged with plunder alongside his father in connection with payments from the illegal numbers game known as jueteng. The Sandiganbayan convicted the elder Estrada of plunder in September 2007 — a ruling followed weeks later by a presidential pardon issued by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — while Jinggoy Estrada was acquitted for insufficiency of evidence.
In 2014, the Sandiganbayan charged Estrada with plunder, graft, and bribery over the alleged misuse of roughly P183 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations linked to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. He was subsequently acquitted on the plunder count, though the anti-graft court rejected his bid to have the remaining graft charges dismissed.
Taken together, court records show that the cumulative value of alleged illicit funds connected to Estrada across all three major cases now exceeds P750 million, spanning a quarter century of legal proceedings before Philippine anti-graft tribunals.
Ombudsman Signals Continued Pursuit of All Implicated Parties
The Office of the Ombudsman has made clear it intends to pursue all individuals with alleged roles in the flood control scandal. Assistant Ombudsman Clavano, in remarks following the filing, underscored the office’s resolve to ensure the cases are handled with care and thoroughness before the Sandiganbayan. The Ombudsman has consistently framed the flood control controversy as one of the most significant anti-corruption undertakings in recent years, and officials have signaled that additional filings are possible as investigations continue.
Originally reported by: Rappler
