The Office of the Ombudsman is filing a plunder case this week before the Sandiganbayan against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.
This is in connection with the P75 million that Marcoleta himself disclosed to have received for his 2025 Senate campaign from three private donors including former congressman Michael Defensor, but which Marcoleta did not declare in his statement of contributions and expenditures. In his official statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, Marcoleta declared only P51.96 million.
An arrest warrant typically follows a court indictment, and plunder is generally a non-bailable offense. This means that barring pressure from special interest groups, Marcoleta could soon be joining his colleague Jinggoy Estrada at the Quezon City Jail.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, who announced yesterday the looming court indictment of Marcoleta, said preliminary investigations are still ongoing in the cases against Sen. Joel Villanueva and eight congressmen.
The charges against the congressmen need to be fast-tracked, to address complaints from senators that the government is laser-focused on pursuing corruption in the Senate while moving slowly on members of the House of Representatives.
Similar observations were made by participants in the White Ribbon March last weekend. The protesters called for accountability from everyone involved – with no sacred cows – in the flood control and budget mess. They expressed fears of a whitewash and selective prosecution, which could erode the credibility of the anti-corruption crackdown.
Such fears are not entirely baseless and must be properly addressed by authorities, if they want to maintain and strengthen public trust in the institutions of justice and accountability.
After President Marcos launched his “mahiya naman kayo” shame campaign last year, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee launched an investigation, during which then panel chairman Panfilo Lacson said at least 67 House members had been implicated as “congtractors” – congressmen-cum-contractors for public works projects, with many of them also involved in questionable budget insertions.
Of the 67, Remulla said cases against 12 to 15 congressmen were deemed to be “low-lying fruits” most likely to be filed before the Sandiganbayan. The nation is waiting for these criminal indictments to be filed in court.
Meanwhile, the government must also update the nation on the efforts to bring back resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co. The fugitive lawmaker is believed to know where all the bodies are buried in the systematic looting of the national budget. Bringing him back to the country will immeasurably boost the credibility of the campaign against corruption.
The President’s shame campaign against the corrupt generated high public expectations for results. The government must not disappoint.