The Office of the Ombudsman announced on Tuesday, 26 May, that it was set to file cases of plunder against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva at the Sandiganbayan in the coming days for their supposed involvement in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.

During a press conference, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla stated that the cases against Estrada and Villanueva were among the most “ripe” cases of the investigative body in terms of the issue.

Remulla further stated that he was going to sign the information that they had on Estrada within the day for submission to the anti-graft court by as early as this Thursday, 28 May.

“Ang pinaka-malapit na, hinog na hinog na, at pipirmahan ko maya maya yung information against Senator Jinggoy Estrada, information to be filed with Sandiganbayan in the soonest possible time, hopefully by Thursday, we will file it first thing in the morning,” he said.

(The closest one, very ripe, and I will sign the information later against Senator Jinggoy Estrada, information to be filed with Sandiganbayan in the soonest possible time, hopefully by Thursday, we will file it first thing in the morning)

Asked if the filing was based on the recommendation of the Department of Justice (DOJ), he answered, “Kaya medyo natagalan ng kaunti, nung binasa namin yung DOJ resolution, meron kaming nakita na kailangan ng corrections, ayaw namin mag file ng information ng hindi pulido.”

(Actually, it took some time because when we read the DOJ resolution, we saw some things that needed corrections, and we don’t want to file information that is not refined).

The Ombudsman asserted that their office was taking their time with regard to filing cases against public officials, as they wanted to avoid the issue wherein the Sandiganbayan would take a long time to come up with a resolution because of insufficiency in evidence.

He noted that they may seek a continuous trial to be conducted so that they would be able to lay out the evidence within the span of one year.

Remulla also affirmed that the senator did have co-perpetrators in the case; however, some personalities were already classified as state witnesses and their testimonies were going to be important to get the case rolling in the right direction.

As for Villanueva, he noted that the case also stemmed from a DOJ recommendation, but similar to what was done with Estrada’s case, the Ombudsman was also in the process of coming up with its own findings and not necessarily adopting the Justice agency’s report.

Ripening Cases

Both Estrada and Villanueva were said to be among the around nine to ten senators that the Ombudsman was actively investigating for different cases.

On Friday, 22 May, it was revealed that a case of plunder had also been recommended by the fact-finding team of the investigative body against Senator Rodante Marcoleta in relation to the P75 million in cash donations that he received prior to the 2025 national elections.

A precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) has also been filed against Marcoleta after the Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division ultimately ruled to grant the Ombudsman’s request.

In an earlier development, former Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero was also issued a PHDO, also linked to flood control-related allegations.

With all cases against Senators seemingly targeting members of the newly formed Senate Majority, Remulla maintained that their office was not necessarily picking and choosing who to file cases against.

“Ang trabaho ng Ombudsman lahat eh, ngayon, marami akong pinirmahan na preventive suspensions sa mayors…marami kaming pinupursue na kaso dito kaya lang, ang public interest syempre nandito sa flood control,” he mentioned.

(The Ombudsman investigates everyone. Today, I signed numerous preventive suspensions on mayors…we have a lot of cases that we’re pursuing; however, the public interest is focused on flood control).