Bong Revilla surrenders to PNP after release of warrant in flood control case

MANILA, Philippines – Bong Revilla surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Monday, January 19, following the release of an arrest warrant for the former senator and several others in connection with an allegedly anomalous flood control project in Bulacan.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told Rappler on Monday night that Revilla surrendered to PNP chief Police General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. at around 8:15 pm.

Earlier on Monday, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan issued an arrest warrant for Revilla and several others for malversation and falsification charges.

The warrant, signed by Sandiganbayan 3rd Division chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda, states no bail is recommended.

It also covers Revilla’s fellow respondents, including former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who were subsequently arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation at the Senate on Monday evening.

Hernandez and Mendoza had been under Senate custody for months. They were present during the resumption of the Senate inquiry into the flood control scandal on Monday.

The charges being handled by the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division are related to a P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan, “which turned out to be a ghost or non-existent project,” says the charge sheet filed by Ombudsman prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Revilla, in connivance with the DPWH engineers, took a cut worth P76.9 million from the contractor. “Less than 3% of the contract price was retained,” says the charge sheet.

The charge sheet also says it was Revilla who “caused or facilitated the inclusion” of the Pandi project in the 2025 national budget. Revilla allegedly received through then-public works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo “kickbacks, advance commissions, or a percentage of the funds allotted” for the project.

The contractor for the Pandi project is SYMS Construction, whose owner Sally Santos admitted lending her license to engineers of the DPWH’s Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office.

Revilla was detained for four years, from 2014 to 2018, over a plunder charge related to the pork barrel scam. He was acquitted in 2018, and eventually cleared of other related criminal charges. He was subsequently reelected to the Senate in 2019 for another six-year term, but lost in the 2025 polls.

This is his second time facing a non-bailable corruption charge. – with a report from Jairo Bolledo/Rappler.com