Ten days is all Sen. Rodante Marcoleta will get to convince the anti-graft court that he should keep his seat in the upper chamber while standing trial for plunder.
The Sandiganbayan’s Third Division set that deadline in a July 22 order addressed to the senator’s counsel, describing the window as one that cannot be extended. Marcoleta was “given a non-extendible period of ten (10) days from notice hereof within which to explain why he should not be preventively suspended from office as an incumbent member of the Philippine Senate,” according to the order.
Preventive suspension is not a novel consequence in cases of this type. Officials facing valid criminal charges tied to public funds or unexplained wealth are subject to it under the Anti-Plunder Law and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and the Manila Bulletin reported that the court invoked Republic Act No. 7080 together with the Sandiganbayan’s 2018 revised internal rules in issuing the directive. Should the suspension be granted, the senator would be sidelined from sessions, committee work, and floor votes.
Two charges are now formally lodged against him. He entered separate pleas of not guilty to plunder and to violating Presidential Decree No. 46, the measure that bars public officials from accepting gifts extended to them because of their position.
The arraignment became possible only after Marcoleta abandoned his bid to have the plunder case thrown out. The court treated the motion to quash as withdrawn once it satisfied itself that the senator had made the decision of his own accord.
Court dates are already on the calendar. Documentary exhibits are scheduled for pre-marking on July 28, 29 and 30, with pre-trial to follow on Aug. 10.
The money at the center of the case totals P75 million in campaign donations received while Marcoleta sat as a party-list lawmaker. According to Inquirer, P30 million came from former Rep. Mike Defensor, P25 million from businessman Joseph Espiritu, and P20 million from businessman Aristotle Viray — all three of whom are co-accused. OneNews reported that the transfers moved over a span of four days in January 2025. State prosecutors maintain the sum went undeclared in the senator’s financial and campaign disclosures.
