Former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. knows the Sandiganbayan like an old friend.

He had been there a couple of times before for his pork barrel cases, where he secured acquittals. And in less than a decade, the former lawmaker returned to the anti-graft court for a new set of cases that once again stem from corruption allegations.

Everything went fast for Revilla, a former senator who lost his reelection bid in 2025.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed a graft charge and a non-bailable malversation case against him on January 16 over a P92.8-million flood control ghost project in Bulacan. Immediately, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division issued a warrant by Monday, January 19, signaling Revilla’s impending return to jail.

Instead of waiting to be arrested, the former senator had a call with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla and later surrendered to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. at Camp Crame.

The PNP served the warrant against Revilla to enable the court to gain jurisdiction over him. Revilla later spent the night in Camp Crame where his old detention facility is located.

By January 20, Revilla faced the Sandiganbayan to await its decision on where he would be detained while the trial is ongoing. Remulla escorted him in the court. The ball is in the hands of the Third Division because it handles the non-bailable malversation case. Graft, pending with the Fourth Division, is bailable.

Revilla’s family was there too at the chamber — Cavite Representative Lani Mercado and some of their children. The former senator’s lawyers for his pork barrel cases were also present: Ramon Esguerra and Rean Balisi.

Before the Third Division justices, the camp said they wanted the former senator to be detained in a facility under the custody of the PNP, but Nartatez opposed this. The top cop sent a letter to the anti-graft court, requesting that it refrain from putting Revilla under their custody due to financial and manpower problems. Plus, Nartatez said, their facilities house high-risk suspects.

Revilla’s lawyers insisted that he cannot be placed at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas due to security risks. The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology said there were no violence-related incidents in this facility dedicated to flood control cases.

In the end, the chamber headed by Third Division chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda ruled to place Revilla in Payatas, not under the PNP’s custody like he used to be for his pork barrel cases.

But Revilla’s camp was persistent. They said they would file a motion with the court to transfer the former senator to a different facility.

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Revilla in flood control corruption

How can Revilla, a former senator, be involved in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal?

State witness and former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Henry Alcantara said Revilla had a P300-million budget insertion in 2024. These were for flood control projects in Bulacan.

Another state witness, former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, confirmed that Revilla received kickbacks from flood control projects. Apart from admitting that he personally delivered money to Revilla’s residence in Cavite, Bernardo also said Revilla’s “commitment” or kickback was at 25%.

The Ombudsman possibly used these leads and traced to Revilla a ghost flood control project in Bulacan. According to the anti-corruption body, Revilla, former DPWH engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, and other DPWH Bulacan officials allegedly conspired to release P76 million from the P92.8-million flood project that was never implemented in Pandi, Bulacan.

They were charged with graft (corruption) and malversation, or a case that has something to do with the misuse of public funds, since the accused allegedly falsified accomplishment reports.

“Despite the absence of any actual construction, the respondents declared the project completed. Thereafter, to facilitate the release of the entire project cost, the respondents are found to have falsified accomplishment reports, issued fraudulent billing documents, and endorsed disbursement vouchers,” the Ombudsman said. 

Revilla is now the highest former public official, the big fish, to be held under custody due to flood control-related cases.

His charges — along with those of Hernandez, Mendoza, and others — are the third set of cases to have reached the courts after the filing of charges against former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co in November and the cases against contractor Sarah Discaya and DPWH officials in December. Co, already resigned, is still at large.

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Truly déjà vu

Like in the flood control mess, Revilla was also among the big fish who got entangled in the multimillion-peso pork barrel scam years ago.

In the pork barrel corruption scheme, lawmakers collected kickbacks by funneling their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) into bogus non-government organizations linked to pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles.

Revilla, as in the flood control corruption mess, was the first former lawmaker to be arrested and detained years back. It was in 2014, the height of the pork barrel scam, when Revilla became the first senator to be arrested due to plunder and graft.

The then-senator faced the PDAF cases because he allegedly earned P224.5-million in kickbacks from the pork barrel scam. He spent only four years in detention because in 2018, he got acquitted in his plunder case owing to his signature supposedly being forged.

The Sandiganbayan’s Special First Division ruled via majority vote that the former senator was not guilty of plunder and graft, but ordered him to return P124.5 million to the Philippine treasury.

As of 2024, Revilla had yet to return the P124.5 million, a Rappler inquiry revealed.

While Revilla got acquitted, his former staff Richard Cambe and Napoles were found guilty of plunder and sentenced to reclusion perpetua or imprisonment of at least 20 years and one day up to at most 40 years. Cambe died in 2021.

In 2021, the Sandiganbayan Special First Division, with a 3-2 vote, acquitted Revilla of 16 counts of graft. The court cited his plunder acquittal and forged signatures. With this graft acquittal, Revilla walked away from all his legal cases that stemmed from the pork barrel scandal.

His fellow big fish — Senator Jinggoy Estrada and the late former senator Juan Ponce Enrile — also later secured acquittals. Enrile scored his plunder acquittal in 2024 and his graft acquittal in October 2025, before passing away the following month.

Estrada, meanwhile, was acquitted of plunder in 2024. He is the only one among the big names mentioned in the scam to have pending cases because of his still ongoing graft charges. Like Revilla, Estrada’s name had also been dragged into the flood control scandal by Alcantara.

What now for Revilla?

While Revilla’s malversation case is non-bailable, his graft is bailable. He posted P90,000-bail before the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division on January 20.

But despite this, he will still be detained in Payatas because of the malversation charge. He will remain detained there, along with other flood control corruption suspects, unless the court grants his motion to be transferred to another facility.

Revilla’s arraignment — where he will enter either a guilty or not guilty plea — is set for Friday, January 23. On this day, the anti-graft court will also hear his other motions.

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He may file a petition for bail in his malversation case, just like what Enrile did in his non-bailable plunder case. Enrile’s bail petition was granted by the Supreme Court on humanitarian grounds.

If the court approves Revilla’s petition for bail, he will be granted provisional liberty while his cases are on trial. But he would need a compelling reason — a really strong argument — to convince the court to grant him temporary freedom. – Rappler.com