Detained Sen. Rodante Marcoleta has elevated cholesterol, an official of the Philippine National Police General Hospital said Thursday, adding another finding to the string of medical conditions that has kept the senator out of jail since his arrest on a non-bailable plunder charge.
The 72-year-old lawmaker has been confined at the hospital inside Camp Crame in Quezon City since July 6, when he complained of chest and nape pains during booking procedures at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. Doctors have since diagnosed him with mild pneumonia, degenerative disc disease and hypertension, Philippine Star reported.
Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani, chief of internal medicine at the hospital, said Marcoleta remains clinically stable but not fit to travel because his blood pressure keeps fluctuating. His reading climbed to 160/90 mmHg on Wednesday, up from 140/90 the previous day. “160/90 is considered hypertensive stage 2. At his age, 160/90 is high for him, so he has symptoms like chest pain, back pain, and things like that,” Bayani said.
The senator has undergone blood chemistry tests, an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, a 2D echocardiogram and a cervical spine X-ray. Bayani said he is also taking medication for prostatic hyperplasia, a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland, according to the Philippine News Agency. The degenerative disc disease will require at least six rehabilitation therapy sessions.
Marcoleta is accused of receiving P75 million in campaign contributions during the 2025 midterm elections and failing to declare them. His co-accused — former Rep. Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray — were committed to the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas the day of the arrests. Defensor, Espiritu and Viray donated P30 million, P20 million and P25 million, respectively.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division on Wednesday ordered the PNP and the hospital to submit separate reports on Marcoleta’s custody status and his latest medical condition within a non-extendible period of 24 hours.
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. rejected suggestions that the senator is receiving preferential treatment. “We are concerned that something might happen if he is brought there,” he said, referring to the anti-graft court.
Marcoleta turns 73 on July 29.
