MANILA, May 28 (Reuters) – A Philippine senator and son of a former president could soon face arrest after an anti-graft body charged him on Thursday of receiving illicit payouts in an infrastructure scandal that has slowed economic growth and hammered consumer and investor confidence.
The Office of the Ombudsman said Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has been indicted for plunder and violating anti-corruption laws after he earned “kickbacks” amounting to 573 million pesos ($9.30 million) from a scheme that defrauded infrastructure projects paid for by the national budget.
“If the honourable court finds probable cause, we anticipate the subsequent issuance of warrants of arrest against the principal respondents,” Assistant Ombudsman and spokesperson Mico Clavano told a press briefing.
• Charged alongside Estrada are former public works minister Manuel Bonoan and engineering officials from the ministry.
• Estrada said in a statement that he will exhaust all legal remedies, asserting that the evidence disproving the accusations against him has been overlooked.
• When asked by reporters on Tuesday about the impending charges, he said, “Well, if this is the price that I have to pay for standing on my own principles and what I believe in, so be it.”
• Bonoan did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
• The charges were filed on Thursday before the Sandiganbayan, which are special Philippine courts that tackle high-profile corruption charges. They also investigated the ill-gotten wealth of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
• The corruption scandal, which has centred on dangerously flawed flood-control facilities across the Philippines, has shaken the graft-weary nation and tempered economic growth in recent quarters.
• Estrada has been jailed twice before, also on corruption offences.
• His father, Joseph Estrada, was the first former president to be convicted of plunder. His successor, Gloria Arroyo, later pardoned him and ordered his release, paving the way for his return to politics.
($1 = 61.5990 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Nestor Corrales; Editing by David Stanway)
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