Investigators from the Field Investigation Bureau of the Ombudsman are recommending that Senator Rodante Marcoleta face plunder and bribery charges after he admitted to receiving P75 million in campaign donations from three private individuals last year.
A complaint-affidavit signed on May 18 and exclusively obtained by GMA News names former Quezon City 2nd District Representative Mike Defensor, Joseph Varias Espiritu, and Aristotle Baluyut Viray as co-conspirators in the case. All four have been ordered to file their counter-affidavits as the Ombudsman proceeds with a preliminary investigation, based on an order signed on May 21.
The donations — P30 million from Defensor, P25 million from Espiritu, and P20 million from Viray — were made on three separate dates in January 2025. During an earlier Commission on Elections (Comelec) inquiry, Marcoleta acknowledged receiving all three amounts but did not disclose them in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE).
Comelec declined to pursue charges at the time, ruling that non-disclosure of donations no longer constitutes an election offense under the amended Omnibus Election Code. Ombudsman investigators, however, argued that the senator’s exposure to liability did not end there.
“While respondent Marcoleta’s failure to declare the donations/contributions from respondents Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray did not constitute any election offense, his acts … should nevertheless give rise to criminal and administrative liabilities,” the complaint-affidavit read.
Beyond the plunder count, investigators are also recommending an indirect bribery charge against Marcoleta. The affidavit cited the scale of the donations as central to their case: “Respondent Marcoleta’s acceptance of gift with an aggregate amount of P75M on three separate occasions constitutes the crime of plunder.”
Investigators further argued that the combined sum had crossed the threshold of ordinary political giving. “The acceptance of such manifestly excessive amount should not be normalized among public officers,” the complaint-affidavit stated.
Defensor pushed back on the allegations, questioning the legal basis for a plunder case where no government money was involved. “How can it be plunder? No gov’t funds were involved. Dapat ‘yung fina-filean ng plunder, ‘yung totoong nagnakaw sa flood control project,” he said.
