Former DPWH Sec. Manuel Bonoan. Photo courtesy of PNA/Avito Dalan.
The Sandiganbayan has yet to decide if former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel ‘Manny’ Bonoan will be considered as a state witness, according to sources in the anti-graft court.
Insiders said that both the Sandiganbayan’s Second and Fifth Divisions have yet to issue resolutions on the Ombudsman’s motion to discharge ex-Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel ‘Manny’ Bonoan as an accused.
Late last month, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla announced that they were dropping the plunder charge against Bonoan over alleged taking of kickbacks worth P573 million from flood control projects.
Also accused in the said case is detained Senator Jose ‘Jinggoy Estrada’ Ejercito Jr.
To explain the dropping of charges against Bonoan, Remulla claimed that they haf “secured a signed agreement” for the cooperation of the 80-year-old former Cabinet secretary in the ongoing flood control scandal trials.
In the meantime, the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division has opined that the trial for the graft case against Estrada should proceed, despite the latter’s claims that he did not make budget insertions in the 2025 national budget.
It earlier denied the jailed senator’s motion for reconsideration that sought to dismiss his graft case for “lack of merit.”