Sandiganbayan drops Manuel Bonoan from flood control plunder case

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has granted a motion by Ombudsman prosecutors to drop former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan from plunder and graft cases involving alleged kickbacks from flood control projects. The court voted 2-1 to allow the prosecution to amend the information, effectively turning Bonoan into a state witness to testify against other individuals implicated in the corruption scandal.

In addition to dropping the charges, the court recalled the arrest warrants and hold departure orders previously issued against Bonoan. The decision was met with a dissenting opinion from Associate Justice Gener Gito, who argued that the court lacked sufficient information regarding the nature of Bonoan’s cooperation and the specific testimony he would provide.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada remains a co-accused in the plunder case, which involves alleged illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the Department of Public Works and Highways worth P573 million. Other remaining co-accused include former DPWH assistant district engineer Denryl Caesar Cortuna and district engineers Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr.