MANILA, Philippines — In a high-profile development tied to one of the Philippines’ most prominent political corruption cases, Philippine Senator Jinggoy Estrada announced Monday that he will comply with a new court-ordered arrest warrant stemming from a plunder charge connected to massive kickback payments in a national flood-control infrastructure project.
The sequence of legal actions unfolded rapidly last week: the Sandiganbayan, the country’s specialized anti-graft court, first issued an arrest warrant for 63-year-old Estrada this past Friday on a separate graft charge that qualified for bail. Following that initial warrant, Estrada turned himself in to authorities, secured his release on bail, and once again publicly rejected all accusations of misconduct against him.
The core allegations against the senator originate from testimony given by a former public works department engineer, who claims Estrada accepted illicit kickbacks totaling more than 570 million Philippine pesos — equivalent to roughly $9.3 million — from the flood-control construction contracts at the center of the investigation. Estrada has repeatedly and forcefully denied all wrongdoing tied to the case, maintaining his innocence in the face of the corruption allegations that have dominated recent political headlines in the country.