Facing the prospect of losing his Senate seat while jailed, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta has gone to the anti-graft court with two requests: keep him in office and let him post bail.
The senator’s filing opposes any move to remove him from his post while the plunder charge against him proceeds. A second petition asks the court to grant him provisional liberty, an unusual bid given that plunder carries no automatic right to bail under Philippine law.
Bail in such cases hinges on a single test—whether prosecutors can show the evidence of guilt is strong. If the court finds it is not, release becomes possible despite the gravity of the charge.
The case stems from P75 million in donations that state prosecutors say Marcoleta took in before the 2025 national elections and left out of his required disclosures while he was still a party-list lawmaker. Former Rep. Mike Defensor and businessmen Aristotle Viray and Joseph Espiritu are named alongside him as alleged conspirators. Marcoleta has entered a not guilty plea and cast the prosecution as political payback tied to his role in the Senate minority and his position in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
The threat to his seat rests on the Anti-Plunder Act, which allows for the preventive suspension of any official standing trial on such a charge. That provision is what his petition now seeks to hold off.
