THE Office of the Ombudsman wants former Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan as a state witness in the criminal cases involving the flood control scam.
"We filed already a motion to discharge him as an accused so that he can be a witness for the prosecution," Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Monday.
"The knowledge that he has about the whole institution is something very important to us to be able to prove many cases," Remulla said. "We will be benefiting from his testimony with regards to so many of the cases that we are filing.”
Last May 28, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a graft complaint against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Bonoan, and another graft case against them and former DPWH-National Capital Region officials Denryl Caesar Cortuna, Manny Bulusan, and Arturo Gonzales Jr.
The Office of the Ombudsman also charged the five individuals with plunder.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the cases stemmed from an intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations in 2025.
“Our evaluation shows that substantial public funds were deliberately funneled into designated infrastructure projects in exchange for predetermined commission fees or kickbacks.
Case records point to an accumulated sum of illicit payouts amounting to P573 million, which were systematically delivered to Senator Jinggoy Estrada," Clavano said.
Bonoan has denied any involvement in irregularities.
