A witness testified at the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday that Senator Jinggoy Estrada inserted more than ₱1.6 billion worth of projects into the 2025 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
According to the judicial affidavit of DPWH Programming Division Chief Engineer Peter Paul Cortez, the alleged insertions spanned 16 projects located within the 1st and 3rd District Engineering Offices of Bulacan, as well as the National Capital Region office.
Cortez testified before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division that these projects appeared in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) despite not being included in the National Expenditure Program.
Cortez stated that he discovered the projects through a list provided by the late Public Works Undersecretary Catalina Cabral, who sent the records to his office for encoding into the DPWH database.
The testimony comes as Estrada faces trial for a ₱573 million plunder case linked to an alleged flood control scam involving billions of pesos funneled through bogus projects. Estrada has consistently denied the charges.
While he has not yet entered a formal plea—a move he described as a protest against the Ombudsman’s decision to drop charges against former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who is now a state witness—his legal team maintains they will challenge the case.
“My faith in our judicial system remains firm. I will continue to stand by the truth and pursue every lawful means available to protect my rights and clear my name and honor,” Estrada said in September.
Estrada’s legal counsel, Atty. Laurence Arroyo, also addressed the ongoing legal strategy regarding the amendment of information.
“We will defend against the plunder charge. We will also, at the same time. pursue our remedies against the amendment [of information] because there’s been a substantial change in the theory of the government, which in part affects our overall defense strategy,” Arroyo said.