The Office of the Ombudsman has filed plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan against Senator Rodante Marcoleta over his alleged failure to declare P75 million in campaign contributions he received during the 2025 senatorial elections.
Also charged with plunder, indirect bribery, and violation of the law prohibiting public officials from receiving gifts are former congressman Michael Defensor and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray, who were identified as Marcoleta’s campaign donors.
The case was raffled to the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division after the anti-graft court, in late May, granted the Ombudsman’s request to issue a precautionary hold departure order against all four while the preliminary investigation was ongoing.
In its complaint, the Ombudsman alleged that Marcoleta unjustly enriched himself by accepting an “unconscionable” P75 million from Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray.
Prosecutors noted that while Marcoleta publicly acknowledged receiving P75 million in campaign donations during media interviews, the amount was allegedly omitted from both his 2025 Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) and his 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
At the time the donations were made, Marcoleta was serving as the representative of the Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty (SAGIP) Party-list.
“Respondent Marcoleta unjustly enriched himself at the expense and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines when he accepted such excessive sum of money from respondents Defensor, Viray, and Espiritu,” the Ombudsman said in its complaint.
Marcoleta has denied the allegations, describing the cases as politically motivated.
“They form part of a deeper and more nefarious design—to intimidate independent voices, to punish dissent, and to warn every senator that the price of asking hard questions could lead to personal damnation,” Marcoleta said.
“If the intention of these cases is to silence me, let me say this at the beginning. It has failed. I will not be silenced,” he added.
