CHICKENPIEThe Sandiganbayan gave Jinggoy Estrada his third plunder case last week. Not a continuation of the second. Not an expansion of the first. A third, freshly filed, legally distinct set of charges — flood control budget insertions, billions allegedly redirected, the familiar architecture of infrastructure money disappearing sideways.
The building is the same building.
Senator Estrada has appeared before the Sandiganbayan enough times that the reception desk should have his name on a card. The first case dates back to the Napoles scandal — a complicated web of pork barrel releases that led to conviction, then appeal, then reversal, then more appeals. The whole judicial slow-dance that makes Philippine accountability feel less like justice and more like a floor exercise. The second case was another allegation, another year, another set of transactions. The third landed last week.
He is currently serving in the Senate. He is currently collecting a legislative salary. He is currently waiting for Case Number Three to begin its journey through the same system that spent eight years on Case Number One.
We talk about accountability the way we talk about a package in transit — it's coming, it's been shipped, we have a tracking number. The Sandiganbayan is not slow because it's broken. It's slow because this is how it moves. Cases accumulate. Judges rotate. The senator keeps showing up.
The latest charges connect Estrada to DPWH flood control insertions — the same infrastructure projects that built careers for half the officials now facing their own Sandiganbayan tables. Former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan just got moved to hospital detention for his version of the same story. Different name, different designation, similar destination for the money.
Three cases. Three different years. The Sandiganbayan is practically his second office at this point. He knows the parking situation, presumably. He knows the cafeteria hours. At some point this isn't bad luck — it's a commute.
