MANILA – The Sandiganbayan has ordered the 90-day preventive suspension of three Department of Public Works and Highways-National Capital Region (DPWH-NCR) officials who are facing plunder and graft charges alongside Senator Jinggoy Estrada over the alleged flood control kickback scheme.

In a report, it said that in a resolution promulgated on Monday, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division directed DPWH engineers Arturo Gonzales Jr., Denryl Caesar Cortuna and Manny Bulusan to “cease and desist from further performing and/or exercising the functions, duties and privileges of their positions.”

The three officials had argued that a preventive suspension was unnecessary because they are currently detained at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas, preventing them from carrying out their official duties.

However, the court ruled that detention does not replace the legal requirement for preventive suspension pending trial.

“Once the information is found to be sufficient in form and substance, then the court must issue the order of suspension as a matter of course. There are no ifs and buts about it,” the resolution penned by Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses stated.

The court also said detention imposes only physical limitations and does not satisfy the legal restrictions required under the law.

“While it is true that detention places a rigid restraint on the accused’s actions… this does not impose the absolute restriction mandated under Section 13 of R.A. [3019], which prohibits the accused from performing the functions that their detention merely renders them physically unable to perform,” the resolution read.

The Sandiganbayan reiterated that preventive suspension is not a penalty but a safeguard intended to prevent accused public officials from influencing witnesses, tampering with evidence or committing further acts of misconduct while in office.

The court directed the DPWH secretary to immediately implement the 90-day suspension upon receipt of the order.

Meanwhile, the arraignment of Estrada and his co-accused, originally scheduled on Tuesday, was reset to July 28 after prosecutors sought to amend the information to remove former Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan from the case.

The motion followed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s announcement that Bonoan would be dropped as an accused and instead be considered as a state witness.