Ombudsman files plunder charges vs Rodante Marcoleta
MANILA, Philippines (3rd update; 12:45 a.m.) — The Office of the Ombudsman filed a plunder case against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta before the Sandiganbayan on Friday, July 3.
The case stems from P75 million in campaign donations that Marcoleta received in January 2025 but did not declare in his official filings.
Also charged are his three donors: former lawmaker Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray.
Plunder is a non-bailable offense and carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison.
Marcoleta received the P75 million in three tranches within four days in January 2025, when he was still the SAGIP party-list's representative in the House, and months before the official campaign period for the May 2025 elections.
Defensor gave P30 million, Espiritu P25 million and Viray P20 million, based on donor's tax returns and deposit slips cited in the complaint.
Marcoleta reportedly did not declare the donation in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) after the elections. It also did not appear in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). He declared only P39.6 million in total assets by June 30, 2025, and P16.7 million in cash and savings in his December 2025 SALN.
The amount exceeds the P50-million threshold for plunder under Republic Act 7080.
"By taking undue advantage of his official position as then representative of the SAGIP party-list and the influence he wielded as a congressman, respondent Marcoleta unjustly enriched himself at the expense and prejudice of the Filipino people," the Ombudsman said in a prior filing before the Sandiganbayan in May.
Marcoleta has denied any wrongdoing. In his counter-affidavit, he "vehemently and categorically" rejected the allegations, arguing the P75 million cannot be considered public funds and was received before the campaign period.
Built on his own admission
The case traces back to Marcoleta's own statements. In a televised interview after the 2025 polls, the senator admitted he did not disclose some contributions in his SOCE, saying his donors asked him not to.
That admission prompted a Commission on Elections show-cause order. The Comelec cleared him of election offenses in March 2026, ruling that the donations fell outside the campaign period.
But it was the Ombudsman that pursued the case under anti-corruption and anti-plunder laws, after which it filed a complaint on May 18.
In a press statement released Friday, the Office of the Ombudsman emphasized that the decision to file charges was "not a decision made lightly or by choice."
The anti-graft body noted that because the P75 million in cash donations remains undeclared in Marcoleta’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) and campaign finance reports, it was legally bound to act.
"These facts are not in dispute; the senator has publicly confirmed receiving the money, and they can be stipulated at the onset of trial," the Ombudsman said. "What remains is a question of law: whether these undisputed facts constitute plunder and bribery. We took an oath to enforce the law regardless of who is involved, and that oath does not waver for popularity, position, or personal relationships."
The Ombudsman also addressed Marcoleta's use of the Filipino cultural value of "utang na loob" (debt of gratitude).
"We honor 'utang na loob' as one of our culture's most beautiful values... But it has no place in public office," the statement read. "A public servant owes no personal debt to any donor that supersedes what they owe the Filipino people. 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."
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