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Philippine prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a senator allegedly linked to a corruption scandal involving flood-control projects.
The charges come nearly a year after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. highlighted the alleged “ghost” infrastructure projects, believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, during a speech in July.
Construction firm owners, government officials and politicians have been accused of embezzling funds allocated to the projects, but the senator is the first person to face criminal charges in connection with the scandal.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the charges against Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, a senator and son of former Philippine president Joseph Estrada, stemmed from “an intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations” for fiscal year 2025, which allegedly enabled him to receive kickbacks worth more than 573 million pesos ($9.2 million).
According to AFP, the charges include graft and plunder, non-bailable offences involving large-scale corruption that carry penalties of life imprisonment.
Estrada’s co-respondents include former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan and local engineering officials.
Estrada did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Clavano told reporters that arrest warrants would be issued once the court establishes probable cause.
“Our case is built on solid, immovable evidence,” he said.
“The Office of the Ombudsman is determined to pursue all cases still pending. We have one shot to get these cases right. The Filipino people need to see justice.”
On Tuesday, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said around eight more senators were under investigation, and that three of them could also face charges. He did not disclose their identities.
Remulla also said that Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin and a congressman who resigned as House Speaker in September after being implicated in the scandal, is under investigation.
Former congressman Elizaldy Co, public works officials and members of a construction firm were charged in connection with the scheme in 2025.
Corruption has long been a major challenge in the Philippines and is widely seen as contributing to poverty in the Southeast Asian nation of 112 million people.
Estrada was previously charged in 2014 with plundering millions of dollars intended for government development projects, but he was acquitted a decade later.
