JUST IN TIME for day one Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, the Sandiganbayan issued a warrant of arrest against Senator-Judge Rodante Marcoleta over a P75-million plunder case in connection with the undeclared campaign donations that were used for his 2025 senatorial bid.
Associate Justice Karl Miranda made the announcement after the Sandiganbayan ruled to junk Marcoleta’s motion to dismiss the case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against him.
Aside from Marcoleta, other individuals ordered arrested by the anti-graft court are his alleged campaign donors — former Anakalusugan partylist Rep. Michael Defensor, businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray.
Plunder is a non-bailable offense. As such, Marcoleta and his co-accused must file a motion seeking bail before they can secure temporary liberty.
On top of plunder charges, Marcoleta and three others are also facing separate cases for violation of the Presidential Decree 46 which explicitly restricts public officials from receiving, directly or indirectly, any gift, present or any other form of benefit in the course of official duties.
Marcoleta is facing three counts of violation of PD 46 while Defensor, Espiritu and Viray are each facing one count for the same offense.
The Ombudsman filed the charges against Marcoleta on Friday.
“Today, we filed a plunder case against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta before the Sandiganbayan. This was not a decision made lightly or by choice. The evidence includes three cash donations totaling P75 million, undeclared in the senator’s SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) and campaign finance reports. This leaves our office no discretion to look away,” GMA News quoted the Ombudsman.
According to the Ombudsman, Marcoleta received the P75 million on three separate occasions:
- January 6, 2025 — P30 million
- January 8, 2025 — P25 million
- January 9, 2025 — P20 million
The Ombudsman also said the donor’s tax for the P75 million was paid only in December 2025, which prosecutors argued was belated and indicative of concealment.
The payment of donor’s tax also happened after Marcoleta justified the non-declaration of the campaign donation in his campaign expenditure statement.
“It is a debt of gratitude, that is why I cannot divulge their identity, that is why I said zero in contribution,” Marcoleta said last November.
The Ombudsman, however, said debt of gratitude is not a defense for a criminal act — “The moment gratitude is used to explain away P75 million in undisclosed money, it stops being ‘utang na loob’ and becomes exactly what our plunder and bribery laws were written to prevent.”
Ahead of the filing of plunder charges, Marcoleta said that he is being pursued by government prosecutors to silence dissent against the administration, especially amid the inquiry on the flood control mess.
Marcoleta has yet to issue an official statement following his surrender.
In a social media post after the filing of charges, Defensor raised questions about the basis for a plunder case and if the same was being applied equally to everyone.