ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider NBI recommends filing of charges vs Estrada, Villanueva, Co, others

NBI recommends filing of charges vs Estrada, Villanueva, Co, others

Published Sep 23, 2025 04:14 pm

At A Glance

  • The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended filing graft, bribery, and malversation charges against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, Cong. Zaldy Co, former DPWH Usec. Roberto Bernardo, ex-Cong. Mich Cajayon-Uy and former DPWH Bulacan 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara over the multibillion-peso flood control kickback scheme.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recommends the filing of charges against several officials embroiled in the anomalous flood control scandal, according to Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla.
Department of Justice Secretary (DOJ) Jesus Crispin
Department of Justice Secretary (DOJ) Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla and Henry Alcantara, former head of the Bulacan First District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). (Contributed photos)
Remulla disclosed this during the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday, September 23, after returning from the DOJ office to evaluate the statement of Henry Alcantara, former head of the Bulacan First District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Alcantara came forward to disclose those who benefited from a multibillion-peso kickback scheme that diverted as much as 25 to 30 percent of public infrastructure funds into kickbacks between 2022 and 2025.
With this, Remulla said that the NBI recommended the filing of charges against Senators Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Joel Villanueva, Ako Bicol Party-list Zaldy Co, former DPWH Usec. Roberto Bernardo, former Cong. Mich Cajayon-Uy, as well as Alcantara.
"We determined that the NBI would be investigating it and on the outset they recommended the filing of charges already so we treated this already as a complaint with the NBI as the endorsing agency," he said.
Remulla said that they had also contacted the Anti–Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which he said had already issued freeze orders over the bank accounts of those he mentioned.

Remulla said charges include violation of Section 3 of the Republic Act (RA) 3019 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, indirect bribery under Article 211 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), and malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the RPC.

Related Tags

National Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice Zaldy Co Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Joel Villanueva jinggoy estrada
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.