Prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman hope the Sandiganbayan will allow former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan to be dropped from cases linking him and detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to the flood control scandal.
The anti-graft court’s Fifth Division held a clarificatory hearing yesterday on the Ombudsman’s motion for leave to file an amended information to discharge Bonoan as an accused in the plunder and graft cases.
Lawyers for Estrada and his co-accused objected to the proposed change in the information text from “Estrada and Bonoan” to “Estrada and/or/through Bonoan”.
Ombudsman lawyer Reza Casila-Derayunan said the amendment is just a textual change and not a substantial one. She added that the Ombudsman hopes to utilize Bonoan as a witness and therefore needs him excluded.
The Fifth Division has scheduled the arraignment for the graft cases against Estrada and Bonoan on July 28 and submitted the motion for resolution.
