MANILA – Former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. posted a P1-million cash bail on Friday after the Sandiganbayan Third Division granted his petition for provisional liberty in connection with his malversation case over an alleged ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.

In a 107-page resolution, the anti-graft court granted Revilla’s application for bail after ruling that the prosecution failed to establish that the evidence of his guilt is strong. It ordered his temporary release upon posting the cash bond, unless he is being held on another legal ground.

The Sandiganbayan later confirmed that Revilla’s camp paid the P1-million cash bond through its electronic payment system.

The court, however, denied the bail petitions of Revilla’s co-accused — Brice Ericson Diaz Hernandez, Jaypee De Leon Mendoza, Emelita Capistrano Juat, Arjay Salvador Domasig, Juanito Coronel Mendoza, and Christina Mae Del Rosario Pineda — after finding strong evidence of guilt against them in the malversation case.

Revilla and his co-accused have been detained at the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory since January.

The charges stem from the alleged diversion of at least P76.9 million in government funds intended for a flood control project in Purok V, Barangay Bunsuran, Pandi, Bulacan, which prosecutors said was declared completed despite never being implemented.

According to the Office of the Ombudsman, Revilla, then chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Works during the 19th Congress, allegedly secured a list of infrastructure projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), facilitated the inclusion of the Pandi project in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, and received kickbacks from the project’s allocation. Revilla has repeatedly denied the allegations.

In its ruling, the Sandiganbayan’s majority said there was no proof that Revilla participated in the implementation of the project or that his actions in obtaining project lists and facilitating funding were linked to an explicit agreement to recover kickbacks through the alleged malversation of public funds.

Associate Justice Ronald Moreno concurred with the majority in granting Revilla’s bail but said co-accused Christina Mae Del Rosario Pineda should likewise have been allowed to post bail because she merely performed her official duties.

In a dissenting opinion, Third Division Chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda said strong evidence also existed against Revilla, whom he described as a principal conspirator in an alleged institutionalized scheme within the DPWH.

According to Miranda, testimonies from former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo and former District Engineer Henry Alcantara indicated that legislators submitted project lists to secure budget allocations in exchange for advance “commitments” or kickbacks that contractors later recovered through project funds.

“Absolving a project proponent based on the ground that he did not personally participate in the disbursement process or in the falsification of the documents would unnecessarily fracture a single continuing scheme,” Miranda wrote.

“If not for his coordination… for the inclusion of the subject project in the GAA and his demand for and receipt of ‘commitments’, the imputed acts of other accused would lack both purpose and opportunity,” he added.

During the bail hearings, Bernardo testified that he delivered cash totaling P500 million to Revilla and claimed the former senator demanded a 25-percent “commitment” from infrastructure projects, including the alleged ghost flood control project in Pandi. Bernardo’s testimony was corroborated by his driver and personal aide, who said they delivered boxes to Revilla’s ancestral residence.

The Sandiganbayan emphasized that its ruling pertained only to Revilla’s application for bail and did not determine his guilt or innocence. Trial on the malversation case is set to continue on Aug. 4.