Prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday, August 5, filed a motion asking the Sandiganbayan's Third Division to reconsider and reverse its July 31 resolution granting bail to former senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. in his malversation case over an allegedly fictitious ₱92.8-million flood-control project in Pandi, Bulacan, according to Rappler, which obtained and reviewed the 15-page motion.
"Wherefore, it is respectfully prayed that the Resolution dated 31 July 2026 be partially reconsidered insofar as it granted the Petition for Bail filed by accused Ramon 'Bong' Bautista Revilla, Jr., and a new one be rendered denying the said Petition," the motion states, as quoted by Rappler.
What the prosecution is arguing
For non-bailable offenses such as malversation, Philippine courts grant bail only when the prosecution's evidence of guilt is weak. The Sandiganbayan's July 31 resolution found the evidence against Revilla insufficient to keep him detained — a finding Third Division chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda dissented from at the time, according to Rappler's reporting.
The Ombudsman's appeal contends the court undervalued Revilla's role as an alleged "proponent" of the Pandi project — a term prosecutors use to describe a lawmaker who ensures funding for a project in exchange for "commitments," or kickbacks, once it is implemented. "In the present case, accused Revilla's participation in the criminal design was not inconsequential nor peripheral. On the contrary, he was the leading link who set in motion the criminal chain," the prosecutors wrote, per Rappler.
The motion cites testimony from engineer Henry Alcantara, a state witness, who said the Pandi project was included in a list he submitted to then-Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo — a list that was later folded into the "errata" of the Department of Public Works and Highways and given a budget line in the General Appropriations Act. Prosecutors argue this shows Revilla helped set the fraud in motion even though he did not participate in the project's implementation phase, which the court's own resolution identified as the stage when the malversation occurred.
The Ombudsman also disputed the court's finding that the money Revilla allegedly received from private contractors did not qualify as "public funds" under the legal definition of malversation. Prosecutors said that argument misses the point: Revilla is accused of conspiring to divert public funds, not of personally pocketing money that was already in government coffers. "It is a non sequitur to allow accused Revilla to post bail because of a simplistic characterization that his 'commitments' are not 'public funds,' since his liability emanates from his being a co-conspirator in the misappropriation of P76,916,337.42," the motion said, according to Rappler.
"In parting, more than the wastage of public funds, what is really involved in this case is the betrayal by accused Revilla and his co-accused of the trust reposed on them as public officers," the prosecutors added.
Where the case stands
Revilla was released from Bureau of Jail Management and Penology custody after the July 31 ruling and remains out on ₱1-million bail while the malversation case proceeds; he was already out on bail in a related graft case tied to the same project. Whether he stays free now depends on how the Third Division rules on the Ombudsman's motion. Pulpulitiko could not immediately confirm a hearing date for the motion, and Revilla's legal team has not issued a public response to this specific filing as of this writing.
Context
The Pandi case is one strand of the broader flood-control corruption scandal that has ensnared multiple current and former lawmakers, including Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and that Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has separately said prompted him to press incoming judiciary leadership to keep courts engaged in anti-corruption prosecutions. Ex-DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan remains a co-accused in the related Estrada case after the Sandiganbayan's Second Division rejected a prosecution bid to drop him as a defendant on August 3.
Sources
- How Ombudsman is pushing Sandiganbayan to revoke Revilla's bail — Rappler
- Bong Revilla Bail: Ombudsman Urges Sandiganbayan To Reverse Ruling — PhilNews
- Ombudsman to appeal Bong's bail — Philippine Star