Senator Jinggoy Estradathe son of the former president Joseph Estradahe is facing a new batch of looting and corruption cases.
On May 28, Estrada was indicted for allegedly profiting P573 million from the inclusion of the budget on flood control. He was charged along with former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, but an arrest warrant has not yet been issued by the Sandiganbayan for the looting charge.
This is Estrada’s third robbery case in less than three decades. What happened to the first two?
The first hijacking: The Jueteng operations
In 2001, Estrada faced a payment of spoils and his father. They were accused of conspiring with others to obtain an alleged P4 billion fortune, which was allegedly derived from jueteng activities, tobacco tax giveaways and property fraud.
Then-Ilocos Sur governor Chavit SingsonA former associate of the elderly Estrada, stood as a star witness in the case. He testified that he delivered millions of money from jueteng activities to the former president.
Singson alleged that Jinggoy, then the mayor of San Juan City, was a jueteng fundraiser in Bulacan. The senator’s code name was “Jing” in Singson’s documents. Once, Jinggoy allegedly collected P3 million in Bulacan from a certain Jessie Viceo. (READ: Post Erap loot case: Where are they now?)
In their arrangement, the former governor of Ilocos Sur said Jinggoy will be required to keep P1 million of the income, and then he will give him the rest. Singson would then send the money to the elderly Estrada.
According to the testimony, Singson’s ledger had only one entry for Jinggoy because the former president found out about it and forbade his son from taking part. However, even though his name did not appear in the file after that, Singson said Jinggoy allegedly continued to receive kickbacks.
Four other witnesses testified that according to Singson’s instructions, they allegedly collected jueteng money from Jinggoy several times and handed it over to Singson himself, who in turn sent the money to the former president.
After six years, in 2007, the elder Estrada was found guilty of extortion by the special unit of the Sandiganbayan. The anti-corruption court also ordered the confiscation of his ill-gotten wealth.
But Jinggoy was released. The Sandiganbayan acquitted the younger Estrada because Singson’s testimony against him was not convincing enough.
The court said that the Office of the Ombudsman (prosecutors) failed to fill in the gaps in the testimony of their star witness, adding that Jinggoy successfully refuted the allegations against him with documentary evidence.
“(Governor) Singson associates Jinggoy with the alleged Viceo from Bulacan. Who is the Viceo? Why was the Viceo not charged if it is true that the jueteng collections from Bulacan came from him before passing through the hands of Jinggoy? There was no evidence at all that the money Jinggoy Estrada handed over to Gov Singson or part of the money protection from the representative of Bujue,” he said. Sandiganbayan.
After his release, Estrada sought a Senate seat in 2010 and he took second place with 18,925,925 votes. He was just behind the best catcher Bonge of Revillawho would later be charged with him in another robbery case.
The second heist: The pork barrel scam
After its hearing on the pork barrel scandal, the Senate blue ribbon committee recommended the opening of Plunder cases against then senators Estrada, Revilla, and Juan Ponce Enrile in 2014. These three came to be known as the biggest fish in the Priority Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal that was called at the time as the biggest, too, in the recent history of the Philippines.
In the scandal, lawmakers were accused of siphoning off their pork barrel funds to Janet Napoles’ fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in exchange for money. The plan involved the following: the creation of fake NGOs, negotiations between Napoles and members of parliament for manipulation, then the sharing of funds.
In April 2014, Estrada was charged with robbery and the Ombudsman who accused him of collecting P183 million in pork barrel. He was too charged and 11 counts of corruption.
On June 23 of the same year, the 5th Division of the Sandiganbayan to command Estrada’s arrest. He surrendered to authorities the same day.
He spent three years in jail because robbery has no bail, but was paroled in 2017. 5th Division. accepted his bail plea because the evidence of that time did not mention him as “the great plunderer.” The concept of the “grand marauder” is one of the main reasons why The Supreme Court is acquitted former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of looting.
After almost a decade, in January 2024, the Sandiganbayan issued its decision on the Jinggoy Estrada robbery case. Category 5 he released Jinggoy for looting, but he was convicted its direct and indirect bribery. (READ: FULL TEXT: Sandiganbayan’s decision on Jinggoy Estrada’s looting case)
He was released because the P50-million loot was not met, but there was evidence to convict him of the lesser offense of bribery. This sentence carried a prison term of eight to nine years for direct bribery, and two to three years for indirect bribery, along with a P3-million fine. (READ: ‘Fraud variant’ explained: Estrada received bribes, but did not commit looting?)
However, in August 2024, the 5th division of the anti-corruption court accepted Estrada’s appeal and acquitted him of bribery charges. Associate Judges of Division 5 Rafael Lagos and Ma. Theresa Mendoza Arcega changed their mind and accepted the appeal, while Associate Justice Maryann Corpus Mañalac upheld her decision.
In principle then, if the judges do not agree on one, two additional judges must be drawn to create a special division. Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto voted with Mañalac to sustain the conviction, while Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna sided with Lagos and Arcega to overturn the conviction.
As written, Estrada’s corruption cases because of the pork barrel scandal is still pending.
The third loot: Flood control
Just two years after his acquittal for looting in the pork barrel case, Estrada found himself embroiled in yet another corruption scandal.
State witness and former DPWH district engineer Henry Alcantarain the Senate session of September 2025, admitted that there was a A P355-million budget injection for Estrada which came from seven flood control projects in Hagonoy and Malolos, Bulacan. The money allegedly represents 25% of the money that Estrada received, said Alcantara.
Another government witness and former DPWH secretary Roberto Bernardo said in an affidavit that Estrada allegedly received money from public works projects worth about P2.3 billion.
By May this year, the Ombudsman revealed that he had received the results of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. in Estrada’s alleged involvement in flood control corruption.
The DOJ found that many high-ranking officials and individuals allegedly conspired to cheat money, steal bids, and then “draw government funds from major national infrastructure budget systems.” The DOJ then recommended the opening of plunder and corruption cases against Estrada and the former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan.
When the Ombudsman charged Estrada and his co-accused, it said there was a “complex mechanism” involving illegal budgeting and allocation of DPWH projects in 2025. According to records, the constitutional body said public funds were “deliberately injected into designated infrastructure projects instead of pre-determined commission fees or benefits.”
“The case records show the accumulation of illegal payments totaling more than P573 million that were submitted to the principal respondent, Senator Jinggoy Estrada,” said the Ombudsman.
Estrada said the Senate’s Office of Research and Budget Monitoring had a letter showing that there was no record that he had budgeted for 2025: “This is a great evidence that contradicts the allegations against me, but it was left out on purpose.”
“This office acknowledges that the LBRMO has issued a certificate regarding the absence of records of the budget entry by the respondent. However, this certificate does not show all the stages of the budget process, where the entry can be made by layer,” the Ombudsman said.
What now?
On May 29, the 2nd Division of the Sandiganbayan which is handling one count of corruption against Estrada. issued an arrest warrant against him. He posted bail and was later released because the 5th Division, which is handling another charge of corruption and extortion without bail, has yet to issue a warrant.
Chief Justice Geraldine Faith Econg is the chairperson of division 2, while Associate Justice Edgardo Caldona is the senior member. Econg and Caldona were two of the three judges who acquitted Revilla in his extortion case in 2018and in Revilla corruption cases in 2021.
Division 5, meanwhile, is headed by Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses, with Associate Justice Maryann Corpus Mañalac and Associate Justice General Gito as senior and junior members, respectively.
Trespeses was among the judges who challenged the Sandiganbayan’s decision to grant Estrada bail for his pork barrel case in 2017.
Corpus Mañalac, meanwhile, repeatedly voted to convict Estrada in his bribery cases. He agreed in the decision to convict the senator for direct and indirect briberyand they opposed the resolution that freed Estrada.
Finally, A little it is the Muntinlupa judge who released the Mamamayang Liberal representative Leila de Lima. Gito gave De Lima the guarantee in November 2023, which paved the way for the former senator’s freedom after almost seven years. Months later, in June 2024, so did Gito to be released De Lima in his third and final drug case. – Rappler.com
