THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the release of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan, one of the co-accused of Senator Jinggoy Estrada in plunder and graft charges in relation to irregularities in flood control projects.
The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division issued the order on September 3, 2026.
On Monday, September 1, the anti-graft court granted the request of the Office of the Ombudsman to drop the case against Bonoan, whom they eyed as a state witness in the case against Estrada and his three other co-accused.
The cases stemmed from an alleged intricate mechanism, illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio for fiscal year 2025.
Estrada allegedly received P573 million worth of kickbacks after funneling funds into designated infrastructure projects through budget insertions.
Bonoan is currently under hospital arrest at the Philippine National Police General Hospital while Estrada and the three other accused were detained at the Quezon City Jail.
The Philippine National Police said they are awaiting a copy of the order.
Bonoan resigned as the secretary of the DPWH in September 2025 amid the investigation of the government into anomalous flood control projects. (TPM/VoxPop Philippines)