MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division postponed the arraignment of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan in their graft and plunder cases to July 28 after state prosecutors sought to amend the case information to remove Bonoan as an accused, a source said Tuesday.
Estrada and Bonoan were originally scheduled for arraignment on June 30. During an arraignment, the court formally reads the charges against the accused, who then enters a plea.
According to the source, prosecutors filed a motion before the Sandiganbayan to amend the case information and drop Bonoan from the charges.
On Monday, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Bonoan had agreed to become a state witness.
“The knowledge that he has about the whole institution is something very important to us to be able to prove many cases,” Remulla said during a press conference.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano earlier said the plunder case stemmed from an alleged scheme involving illegal budget insertions and project allocations within the Department of Public Works and Highways’ infrastructure portfolio for fiscal year 2025 amounting to P573 million.
State prosecutors later said P350 million of the amount involved projects in Metro Manila and Oriental Mindoro, while P213 million covered projects in Bulacan.
Clavano said the alleged P573 million in kickbacks was systematically delivered to Estrada.
