Estrada’s camp refutes Bonoan’s P7-B insertion claim anew

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s legal team on Tuesday reiterated that the lawmaker did not have insertions in the 2025 national budget.

Earlier in the day, former Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan told the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division in a written testimony that Estrada had over P7 billion in “congressional initiatives.”

“Senator Estrada has been consistent in refuting such claims, and the official records of the Senate, particularly those of the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO), will attest to this,” the senator’s legal team said in a statement.

Article continues after this advertisement

READ: Bonoan: Estrada has over P7 billion ‘initiatives’ in 2025 budget

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

When Estrada was first implicated in the flood control issue, he also cited the LBRMO’s records to refute having insertions in the 2025 budget.

“The LBRMO, in a letter submitted to the Ombudsman last March, stated that “there are no legislative records or official documents indicating any official insertions or amendments made by a senator, specifically Senator Jinggoy Estrada, in the 2025 (national budget) related to the DPWH,” Estrada’s camp stated.

The Sandiganbayan is presently trying Estrada for plunder and graft charges in relation to alleged “mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations” within the DPWH.

Bonoan, who was previously among the accused in the flood control controversy, has been excluded from a plunder charge to stand as witness against Estrada.

The former DPWH chief, however, is still charged with graft along with Estrada. /gsg