[Updated July 31, 2026, 8:54 p.m.]
MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Bong Revilla will be temporarily released from jail after the Sandiganbayan Third Division granted his bail petition.
“The court granted Bong Revilla Jr.’s bail application, but denied the other accused,” said Dennis Pulma, the Third Division clerk of court, in a message to reporters.
READ: Jinggoy Estrada stays in jail as Sandiganbayan denies plea to post bail
Revilla’s bail is set at P1 million, according to Pulma.
On the other hand, the court denied the bail of Revilla’s co-accused former Department of Public Works (DPWH) engineer Brice Hernandez and other DPWH officials.
Revilla and his co-accused face a non-bailable malversation case over an alleged ghost project in Bulacan’s Pandi town worth P92.8 million.
In a 107-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Fritz Bryn Delos Santos, Revilla’s bail was granted due to “the unavoidable conclusion is that the prosecution’s evidence during the bail hearing is simply not enough to establish that the evidence of guilt against accused Revilla is strong.”
During the bail petition, state witness and former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo testified that former DPWH chief Manuel Bonoan told him that Revilla is expecting an allocation of at least 1.5 billion pesos in the 2025 budget of the agency.
However, the resolution said “there was no narration in the testimonies offered as to how accused Revilla facilitated the inclusion of the subject project for funding.”
Bernardo also said he was informed that former DPWH officials Henry Alcantara and Gerard Opulencia had obtained the money from the contributions given by private contractors.
Thus, the alleged commitments or kickback given to Revilla came from private persons.
The malversation of public funds under the Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code only refers to misappropriation of “public funds or property.”
“At that time, the funds involved insofar as accused Revilla is concerned were not public in character,” the resolution said.
As to accused Hernandez, the resolution said the court “finds strong evidence of guilt that he is an integral part of the conspiracy as to the charge of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents.”
The court also denied the bail petition of former DPWH officials Jaypee De Leon Mendoza, Arjay Salvador Domasig, Emelita Capistrano Juat, Juanito Coronel Mendoza, and Christina Mae Del Rosario Pineda. /jpv /mr