The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines — Accountability and politics should never be mixed, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano, the spokesman of the Office of the Ombudsman, said on Monday. This was after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said that many times, he was offered case dismissal in exchange of turning his back on the Senate "independent majority bloc" but that he did not accept it. "Accountability and politics should never be mixed", Clavano said in Filipino when asked by media. "If there are people who are trying to blur the line between these two, they should be held accountable. No one can decide in the name of the Ombudsman when it comes to pending cases, because doing this can also be considered a form of corruption", Clavano said. "These cases have long been being investigated. In fact, every step of the process is publicized", Clavano said. Last Thursday, the Ombudsman charged Estrada and four others including former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan with plunder before the Sandiganbayan. The three others were former DPWH-National Capital Region officials Denryl Caesar Cortuna, Manny Bulusan, and Arturo Gonzales Jr. The Ombudsman also filed two graft charges. Estrada, Bonoan, Cortuna, Bulusan, and Gonzales Jr. were named accused in one. Only Estrada and Bonoan were the accused in the other. "The cases stem from an intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations within the DPWH infrastructure portfolio for Fiscal Year 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 an aggregate sum of over PhP 573 Million which were systematically delivered to the principal respondent, Senator Jinggoy Estrada", Clavano said in a statement last Thursday. While acknowledging that the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office issued a certificate on the absence of records that Estrada made budget insertions, the Ombudsman's office said the certificate "does not capture all stages of the budgetary process, wherein insertions may be made in a layered method." Estrada has said in Filipino in a statement, "I am determined to face this case and prove that the accusations against me are not true." Bonoan denied links to alleged corruption. "Hindi po. I can shout [it]. Hindi po ako involved" (No. I can shout [it]. I am not involved)", he said in a media interview at the House of Representatives last September when he attended as a resource person in the investigation conducted by the House infrastructure committee on flood control projects. The Ombudsman's office has been conducting flood control-related investigations.
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