MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine senator was arrested Monday on a charge of plunder after he allegedly pocketed a huge kickback in a flood-control project. It is the latest crisis to hit the country’s Senate, the upper chamber where a battle for control of the country’s political future is playing out.The special Sandiganbayan anti-graft court had initially issued a warrant for Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s arrest Friday on a graft charge. He surrendered but was soon released on bail.The new charge for which he was arrested Monday carries no right to bail.Estrada, 63, has strongly denied allegations mainly by a former government public works engineer, that he received more than 570 million pesos ($9.3 million) in kickbacks from flood control projects.Estrada had earlier told reporters at the Senate that he would surrender to authorities after receiving the warrant. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and police forces took him into custody at the chamber.
“There will be no special privileges,” Remulla said of Estrada and his other co-accused, including former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who was separately placed under arrest.
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Estrada suggested that the corruption cases he was facing and his arrest were a result of his being aligned with the camp of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte, a former ally but now an arch political rival of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
