Thousands of Iglesia Ni Cristo members converged on the People Power Monument along EDSA in Quezon City on Tuesday, June 30, in an unannounced show of force behind Senator Rodante Marcoleta, whose looming plunder case the church has branded an attempt to bury corruption rather than punish it.
Speaking through spokesperson Edwil Zabala on a Net25 livestream, the church rejected the case outright, calling it a “distortion of law.” The prosecution, the INC argued, runs backwards: the man now facing possible jail is the same figure who pushed to surface the truth about anomalous flood control spending.
“Senator Marcoleta led the investigation into what is believed to be one of the biggest cases of plunder in our nation’s history. What puzzles us is why he – the one pushing to expose those allegedly involved in this massive theft in the Philippines – is the one being charged and threatened with imprisonment, instead of those who were exposed,” Zabala said.
The Quezon City Police District estimated the crowd at around 7,000 by 6:45 a.m. The gathering choked traffic badly enough to force the temporary closure of White Plains Avenue near EDSA, with many demonstrators wearing shirts from earlier INC mobilizations, including its Rally for Transparency and Accountability in November 2025.
The church cast its stance as a principle no prosecution would shake. “The Iglesia ni Cristo supports what Senator Marcoleta stands for because it is also our position. We call for transparency, accountability, justice, and peace,” Zabala said, adding: “That is why we want the authorities to hear this: Even if they imprison Senator Marcoleta, we will not stop demanding justice for our fellow Filipinos who have been robbed.” He stopped short, however, of stating outright that the gathering was being held for the senator.
Zabala leveled a sharper charge at how the case is being pursued, calling it targeted enforcement. “We want them to know that selective justice is an injustice, and we will not remain silent in the face of this grave assault on the justice that our people deserve,” he said.
The demonstration followed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s announcement Monday that his office would lodge a plunder complaint against the senator before the Sandiganbayan within the week. The charge centers on three cash donations Marcoleta acknowledged receiving in January 2025 for his Senate run — P30 million from former Quezon City congressman Mike Defensor, plus P25 million and P20 million from businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray, respectively. Because the combined sum clears the P50-million floor that triggers plunder, the offense carries no bail.
The INC anchored part of its objection on where the money came from, noting the donations were not drawn from government funds. It also invoked a prior ruling in the senator’s favor: the Commission on Elections had earlier found no crime in Marcoleta’s acceptance of the contributions, reasoning that the non-disclosure fell outside the amended Omnibus Election Code because he took in the funds before the official campaign period began.
That clearance has not settled the matter for prosecutors. Ombudsman investigators argue the conduct could still expose him to criminal and administrative liability, their central contention being that while Marcoleta said openly in interviews that he received the P75 million, the figure never surfaced in his 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth or his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures.
Marcoleta has cast the timing as deliberate. In a video on his Facebook page, the senator alleged the case is designed to keep him out of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, set to open July 6, pointing to an earlier remark by Senator Panfilo Lacson that several senators could end up jailed as evidence the move had been mapped out in advance.
The church tied its backing to the senator’s role in the scandal. As chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, the INC said, Marcoleta steered the inquiry that brought numerous others into view, and he kept pressing the issue even after being replaced as committee chair. A non-bailable complaint, the group argued, would shut down that work by pulling him off the field.
He would not face the court alone. Defensor, Espiritu and Viray are named as alleged co-conspirators in the plunder filing. Should he be charged and detained, Marcoleta would become the second sitting senator drawn into the current corruption crackdown after Jinggoy Estrada.
