The head of the Sandiganbayan says the flood control corruption cases could end in convictions or acquittals within a year. The Ombudsman, meanwhile, is preparing to put a former public works secretary who was once a co-accused on the witness stand. Both statements date to Sept. 10-11, and this piece pulls them together because, read side by side, they describe the same bargain: speed in exchange for a cooperating insider.
The court's timeline
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Tina G. Santos (Sept. 10), Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg told a Senate budget hearing on the judiciary's 2027 proposal that 26 flood control cases are before the anti-graft court. The first was filed Nov. 18, 2025, and it has already reached the defense stage. "That means that in less than a year, we are already on the defense stage, so that was pretty fast," Econg said, as quoted by the Inquirer. She added: "If we follow the Speedy Trial Act...we will see conviction within the year, or acquittal, within the year."
The Inquirer reported that one case was archived because the accused could not be located. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian had asked about resolution timelines, per the report. Notice the phrasing: a conviction "or" an acquittal. The court is promising a verdict, not a result.
The witness
The Inquirer's Gillian Villanueva reported (Sept. 11) that Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla is readying former Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan as a state witness. Bonoan had been charged alongside Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and three district engineers; the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division approved his removal as an accused in two cases and his release from hospital arrest, according to the Inquirer. The cases involve alleged kickbacks of ₱573 million.
Remulla said, per the Inquirer, that "a witness has to be vetted properly. We have to ask the right questions," and that "we want to go for a continuous trial so that there will be no sleeping cases." The Ombudsman has already received written submissions from Bonoan, including factual backgrounds and notes, the report said.
What's unclear
The reports do not say what Bonoan will testify to, what he was promised, or how the court will weigh the testimony of a man who ran the agency at the center of the scandal. A Rappler headline also indicates the Sandiganbayan denied an Ombudsman bid to exclude Bonoan from a flood control graft case; this run could not open that article, so the details and the relationship to the Fifth Division ruling above are unverified here. A separate Rappler headline reports the Ombudsman counted 35 flood control cases pending in courts, which is a different figure from the 26 Econg cited before the Senate; the discrepancy is unexplained in the sources this run could access.
Context
Pulpulitiko has covered the arrest order against Rep. James Ang Dit Ang Jr. and the Senate's findings on anomalous DPWH projects this month. Verdicts within a year would be fast by Philippine standards; the test is whether the cooperating witness strengthens the cases or hands defense lawyers a credibility target.
Sources
- Tina G. Santos, "Sandiganbayan: Some flood control cases may be resolved within the year," Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sept. 10, 2026 — https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2303007/sandiganbayan-some-flood-control-cases-may-be-resolved-within-the-year
- Gillian Villanueva, "Ombudsman readies Bonoan testimony in flood control cases," Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sept. 11, 2026 — https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2303811/ombudsman-readying-bonoan-testimony-in-flood-control-cases
- Rappler headlines (articles not read): https://www.rappler.com/philippines/sandiganbayan-junks-ombudsman-bid-exclude-manuel-bonoan-flood-control-graft-case/ and https://www.rappler.com/philippines/number-flood-control-cases-pending-courts-september-2026/