The Office of the Ombudsman will formally charge Senator Rodante Marcoleta with plunder this week over campaign donations he accepted during the 2025 elections, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Monday.
“Si Senator Marcoleta definitely for resolution na. We’re about to file it already,” Remulla said, according to the Philippine Star. The move would elevate the case from a complaint under preliminary investigation to a formal charge before the Sandiganbayan, the anti-graft court.
The case centers on P75 million in donations Marcoleta received in January 2025 for his senatorial bid. During an earlier Commission on Elections investigation, Marcoleta admitted receiving three separate donations totaling P75 million — P30 million from former Quezon City representative Mike Defensor, and P25 million and P20 million from Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray, respectively. Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray also face plunder and indirect bribery complaints as alleged co-conspirators.
Plunder applies when the amount involved reaches at least P50 million, and the offense is non-bailable. Investigators from the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Bureau, in a complaint-affidavit dated May 18, argued that the acceptance of such an amount “can no longer be considered as an ordinary act of generosity but rather a corrupt act.” The complaint also alleged that the P75 million was not reflected in Marcoleta’s statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth filed with the Senate, in which he declared a net worth of only P39.6 million.
Marcoleta has denied wrongdoing. In a counter-affidavit furnished to media in June, he called the complaint “legally insufficient,” maintaining that the donations were private funds, not public money, and therefore could not constitute plunder. In a privilege speech in May, he described the charges as “trumped-up” and intended to “punish dissent,” tying them to his role in Senate scrutiny of the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal.
The Comelec had earlier ruled that Marcoleta committed no election offense, finding that the non-disclosure no longer constituted a violation under the amended Omnibus Election Code because the donations were received before the official campaign period. The Ombudsman’s investigators argued his actions could still give rise to criminal and administrative liabilities.
If formally charged and detained, Marcoleta would become the second senator after Jinggoy Estrada to face plunder charges in the current corruption crackdown. The Sandiganbayan in May issued a precautionary hold departure order barring Marcoleta and his three co-respondents from leaving the country.
