Bonoan, whistleblowers to testify in Estrada plunder case

Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan along with other supposed “whistleblowers” are set to be called as witnesses for the plunder case against Senator Jinggoy Estrada at the Sandiganbayan.

The announcement came during the pre-trial proceedings of Estrada’s case at the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division on Wednesday, wherein the court set hearings for the petition for bail of the senator from 20 October to 12 November.

The prosecution said it planned to present 21 witnesses including alleged whistleblowers, officials from various district engineering offices of the DPWH, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Senate.

It was not made clear, however, whether Bonoan would be presented during the bail hearings or as part of the main trial.

Bonoan was previously among the accused in the case but was later excluded from the charges after prosecutors filed a motion to amend their case information with an intent to utilize the former Public Works secretary as a witness for flood control.

Even with his exclusion from plunder, Bonoan remains charged with graft along with Estrada and other DPWH officials at the Sandiganbayan Second Division as the court denied a similar motion from prosecutors.

The case facing Estrada alleges that he received a total of P573 million in infrastructure kickbacks from the DPWH in 2025 through “systematic deliveries.”

The Office of the Ombudsman said that the senator had a hand in inserting projects into the infrastructure portfolio of the DPWH in 2025 in exchange of a predetermined commission fee.

It was the third time that Estrada was charged with plunder.