For the third time in his political career, Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito Estrada is facing plunder charges — this time over alleged kickbacks totaling more than P573 million tied to flood control infrastructure projects funded through the Department of Public Works and Highways' Fiscal Year 2025 spending portfolio. The Office of the Ombudsman formally filed one count of plunder and two counts of graft against the incumbent senator before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
The charges were brought by Assistant Ombudsman Jose Dominic "Mico" Clavano IV, making Estrada the highest-ranking sitting government official to be indicted in connection with what has become a sprawling multibillion-peso flood control scandal that has cast a long shadow over DPWH infrastructure contracting under the Marcos administration.
An 'Intricate Mechanism' at the Heart of the Charges
According to the Office of the Ombudsman, investigators identified what they described as an "intricate mechanism" of illegal budgetary insertions and manipulated project allocations embedded within the DPWH's infrastructure program. Case records, the Ombudsman's office said, establish that illicit payouts exceeding P573 million were "systematically delivered" to Estrada as the principal respondent in the case.
The Ombudsman filed the charges under Republic Act No. 3019, also known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in addition to the plunder count. Under Philippine law, plunder is a non-bailable offense that requires the amount involved to reach a minimum of P50 million — a threshold the present case surpasses by a significant margin.
The Ombudsman has recommended that no bail be granted for those charged and has indicated it will seek Hold Departure Orders to bar respondents from leaving the Philippines while litigation is ongoing. The cases have been raffled to the appropriate Sandiganbayan divisions, which will decide whether to issue warrants of arrest.
Former DPWH Secretary Bonoan and NCR Officials Co-Accused
Estrada is not facing these charges alone. Named as co-accused are former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan — who has publicly denied any involvement in corruption — along with three officials from the DPWH-National Capital Region: District Engineers Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr., and Assistant District Engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna.
Charges against former DPWH Undersecretary Catalina "Cathy" Cabral were dropped following her death on December 19, 2025. Meanwhile, three other former officials — Roberto Bernardo, Henry Alcantara, and Gerard Opulencia — were excluded from the complaints after they were admitted as state witnesses by the Department of Justice.
According to the Ombudsman, this filing represents the fourth batch of cases connected 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, which itself stemmed from a complaint by the Public Works and Bid-Rigging Task Force of the National Bureau of Investigation and the DOJ.
Estrada Fires Back, Cites LBRMO Letter as Exculpatory Evidence
In a statement released after the charges were filed, Estrada categorically denied all allegations and declared his intention to "exhaust all legal remedies." He pointed to a letter from the Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) as evidence directly contradicting the prosecution's claims — a document he says explicitly states there is no record of any budget insertion he made in the 2025 national budget.
Estrada argued that this letter constitutes crucial exculpatory evidence that investigators deliberately set aside when building their case. He also raised concerns about due process, contending 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.
In his statement, Estrada questioned the speed at which the proceedings moved, saying that the Ombudsman filed the charges barely a week after the DOJ issued its resolution — without, he claimed, conducting its own independent fact-finding investigation, which he characterized as a required procedural step before cases can be brought before the anti-graft court.
The senator also drew attention to what he described as a troubling pattern, suggesting that legal cases involving certain members of the Senate majority bloc have accelerated following a recent change in Senate leadership. "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," Estrada said in his statement.
He closed his public remarks 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: Allegations First Raised in September 2024 House Inquiry
The controversy now culminating in formal charges traces back to a House inquiry held in September 2024, during which a witness accused Estrada of receiving at least P350 million in alleged commissions — described in congressional testimony as "SOP," or standard operating procedure — from flood control projects in Bulacan that were allegedly inserted into the 2025 national budget.
That hearing set off a chain of legislative and executive investigations into DPWH infrastructure contracts and the alleged roles of lawmakers in a fund insertion scheme, eventually ballooning into one of the largest infrastructure corruption controversies in recent Philippine political history.
A Career Marked by Three Separate Plunder or Corruption Proceedings
The current case is the third time in roughly 25 years that plunder or related charges have been brought against Estrada, who is the son of ousted former President Joseph Estrada.
In 2001, court records show, he was charged alongside his father in connection with alleged jueteng payoffs. The Sandiganbayan convicted the elder Estrada of plunder in September 2007 — a verdict followed weeks later by a presidential pardon granted by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — while Jinggoy Estrada was acquitted for insufficiency of evidence.
Then in 2014, the Ombudsman charged Estrada with plunder, graft, and bribery in connection with the alleged misuse of approximately P183 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations in a scheme linked to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. He was ultimately acquitted on the plunder count, though the Sandiganbayan rejected his bid to have the related graft charges dismissed.
Taken together, the three major cases against Estrada involve alleged illicit funds totaling well over P750 million, spread across a quarter century of anti-graft proceedings — a record that is virtually unmatched in Philippine legislative history.
Ombudsman Signals More Cases to Come
The Office of the Ombudsman, according to Assistant Ombudsman Clavano, has made clear that it does not consider this filing to be the end of the road. The agency has publicly signaled its intent to continue pursuing all individuals found to have played a role in the flood control scandal, with additional batches of cases potentially still in the pipeline as investigators work through the full scope of the controversy.
The cases now await action from the Sandiganbayan, which must determine whether to issue warrants of arrest against Estrada and his co-accused — a decision that could have significant political ramifications given the senator's standing as a sitting member of the Philippine Senate.
Originally reported by: Rappler