Sen. Rodante Marcoleta is expected to be moved to the New Quezon City Jail in Barangay Payatas once processing is completed, as plunder carries no option for bail. Awaiting him at the facility are two other detained lawmakers, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former senator Bong Revilla.
The transfer follows the senator’s arrest at the Sandiganbayan, where the warrant against him was carried out Monday morning. Marcoleta had arrived at the court alongside his legal team, intending to submit a motion seeking dismissal of the plunder charge.
“He is already under arrest,” Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed. He noted that the senator still had to go through booking at the court before anything else, which covers mugshots, fingerprinting, and a medical examination. “He is at the Sandiganbayan. He has to be processed first,” Remulla said.
A senior official from the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said the processing would take place within the Sandiganbayan premises.
The charge traces back to the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan, which ordered the arrest over P75 million Marcoleta accepted while serving as representative of the Sagip Party-list. The senator himself disclosed on his television program that the sum came from three campaign contributors backing his 2025 senatorial run during the midterm elections.
Marcoleta initially faced a complaint at the Commission on Elections for leaving the money out of his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE). He avoided liability there by contending the funds arrived in January 2025, ahead of the official start of the election period, meaning it could not qualify as an election offense. The Office of the Ombudsman turned that same reasoning against him, pointing out that he was still a sitting congressman at the time he took the money.
Investigators are now expected to redirect their efforts toward the three men who supplied the P75 million: former congressman Mike Defensor, Aristotle Viray, and Joseph Espiritu.
