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Daphne Galvez - The Philippine Star
February 17, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Third Division entered a not guilty plea yesterday for former senator Ramon Revilla Jr. after he refused to enter a plea in his malversation case involving an alleged P92.8-million ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.
Revilla and his co-accused former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District Engineering Office finance section chief Juanito Mendoza were arraigned on Monday morning before the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division for the non-bailable offense of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents.
Revilla has been charged with malversation and graft for allegedly conspiring to facilitate the release of approximately P76 million for the supposed construction of a flood control project in Purok 5, Barangay Bansuran in Pandi, Bulacan which was never implemented based on official inspection and witness accounts.
Revilla refused to enter a plea, therefore it was the court that entered the plea for him.
His counsel Francesca Señga said Revilla’s refusal to enter a plea means he is maintaining his position questioning the charges filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.
“So he can avail himself of remedies to question the legality of information,” Señga told reporters after the arraignment.
Meanwhile, Mendoza pleaded not guilty.
Their arraignment triggered the start of pre-trial where parties will submit their pre-trial briefs which contain the list of evidence and witnesses.
Earlier, their five co-accused in the malversation case also pleaded not guilty: former DPWH engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig and Emelita Juat, and DPWH Bulacan First District Engineering Office cashier Christina Pineda.
The Sandiganbayan, in a resolution dated Feb. 13, allowed Revilla and Mendoza to appeal before the ombudsman its decision to file a malversation case against them.
Sandiganbayan sets trial of Zaldy Co on March 3
The Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division will start on March 3 and 5 the trial of the malversation of public funds case filed against former Ako Bicol party-list congressman and now fugitive Zaldy Co and others over the P289 million anomalous flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
The trial schedule, which will then proceed weekly every Tuesday and Thursday, was issued after the court terminated the hearings on the petitions for bail filed by the accused.
In a two-page order, the anti-graft court ordered ombudsman prosecutors to submit their formal offer of evidence to which the bail petitioners should submit their comment or opposition.
“Upon resolution by the court of the said Formal Offer, the parties are hereby given a period of three days from receipt of a copy thereof within which to file their respective memorandum, if so minded,” the court’s order read.
It also said that upon the expiration of the three-day period granted by the court, with or without the memorandum, the petition for bail shall be deemed submitted for resolution.
Co has already been declared by the Sandiganbayan as a fugitive from justice and barred him from participating in any court proceedings and seeking judicial relief until his voluntary surrender. He has been abroad since July 2025.
While the SC did not issue a TRO, it required Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to answer Co’s petition in 10 days.
Co’s co-accused in the malversation case were DPWH Region 4-B Director Gerald Pacanan, Assistant Regional Directors Gene Ryan Altea and Ruben Santos Jr., Construction Division chief Dominic Serrano, Project Engineer III Felisardo Casuno, Accountant IV Lerma Cayco, Maintenance Division head Juliet Calvo, officer-in-charge of Quality Assurance and Hydrology Division Dennis Pelo Abagon, and Planning and Design Division OIC Montrexis Tamayo.
They pleaded not guilty during their arraignment. Co and his co-accused are also facing a case for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, before the Sandiganbayan’s fifth division. Co has a separate graft case before the court’s seventh division.
Meanwhile, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said that additional persons have been implicated in the ghost flood control cases they have filed before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.
“We submitted a number of manifestations ...some two weeks ago. We submitted it to the ombudsman,” Dizon said. “We have included more people.” — Rainier Allan Ronda
