Bong Revilla surrenders to PNP after launch of warrant in flood management case

(2nd UPDATE) The warrant additionally covers a number of others, together with former DPWH engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who’re subsequently arrested on Monday night, January 19

MANILA, Philippines – Bong Revilla surrendered to the Philippine Nationwide Police (PNP) at Camp Crame in Quezon Metropolis on Monday, January 19, following the discharge of an arrest warrant for the previous senator and a number of other others in reference to an allegedly anomalous flood management undertaking in Bulacan.

Inside Secretary Jonvic Remulla informed Rappler on Monday evening that Revilla surrendered to PNP chief Police Normal Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. at round 8:15 pm.

Earlier on Monday, the anti-graft courtroom Sandiganbayan issued an arrest warrant for Revilla and a number of other others for malversation and falsification expenses.

The warrant, signed by Sandiganbayan third Division chairperson Affiliate Justice Karl Miranda, states no bail is really helpful.

It additionally covers Revilla’s fellow respondents, together with former Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who had been subsequently arrested by the Nationwide Bureau of Investigation on the Senate on Monday night.

Hernandez and Mendoza had been underneath Senate custody for months. They had been current through the resumption of the Senate inquiry into the flood management scandal on Monday.

The fees being dealt with by the Sandiganbayan third Division are associated to a P92.8-million flood management undertaking in Pandi, Bulacan, “which turned out to be a ghost or non-existent undertaking,” says the cost sheet filed by Ombudsman prosecutors.

Prosecutors stated Revilla, in connivance with the DPWH engineers, took a reduce value P76.9 million from the contractor. “Lower than 3% of the contract worth was retained,” says the cost sheet.

The cost sheet additionally says it was Revilla who “brought on or facilitated the inclusion” of the Pandi undertaking within the 2025 nationwide funds. Revilla allegedly obtained via then-public works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo “kickbacks, advance commissions, or a share of the funds allotted” for the undertaking.

The contractor for the Pandi undertaking is SYMS Development, whose proprietor Sally Santos admitted lending her license to engineers of the DPWH’s Bulacan 1st District Engineering Workplace.

Revilla was detained for 4 years, from 2014 to 2018, over a plunder cost associated to the pork barrel rip-off. He was acquitted in 2018, and finally cleared of different associated felony expenses. He was subsequently reelected to the Senate in 2019 for one more six-year time period, however misplaced within the 2025 polls.

That is his second time dealing with a non-bailable corruption cost. – with a report from Jairo Bolledo/Rappler.com