The Sandiganbayan on Thursday entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Senator Jinggoy Estrada after he refused to enter a plea during his arraignment for graft.

Estrada participated in the Sandiganbayan Second Division hearing via videoconference from detention. His attorney, Noel Ostrea, said the senator could not attend in person because of osteoarthritis in both knees.

The court rejected an urgent omnibus motion from Estrada’s defense team seeking to dismiss the case for lack of evidence.

Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg ruled that the defense failed to show sufficient grounds to block the arraignment.

Econg cited the defense did not present Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office documents to prove Estrada had no budgetary insertions under the Department of Public Works and Highways portfolio for the 2025 fiscal year.

The Office of the Ombudsman downplayed the significance of such certification, stating that the document “does not capture all stages of the budgetary process, wherein insertions may be made in a layered method.”

The court scheduled Estrada’s pre-trial for 1 July to outline witness lists and trial dates. Both the prosecution and defense were given a non-extendible 10 days to submit comments regarding a potential court order suspending Estrada from his Senate duties.

In a separate hearing the same day, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division deferred the arraignment of Estrada and his co-accused, former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, to 30 June for their related plunder charges while the court reviews separate motions to dismiss.

The multi-million-peso plunder case stems from allegations that Estrada accepted P573 million in alleged kickbacks from public flood-control projects funded under the 2025 national budget.

Estrada and his co-accused have been held at the New Quezon City Jail-Male Dormitory since 1 June.

Three co-accused DPWH officials — Denryl Caesar Cortuna, Manny Bulusan and Arturo Gonzales Jr. — appeared in person and pleaded not guilty to the plunder charges.

Bonoan, who faces both graft and plunder charges as an alleged co-conspirator, remains hospitalized at The Medical City after recently undergoing an angiogram for complications related to hypertension and diabetes.

He remains under the custody of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Econg questioned Bonoan’s legal counsel for failing to present a medical certificate to justify his absence. The defense team and police custody officials said the hospital had not yet issued the document.