MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division found probable cause to try the charge of violation of Presidential Decree (P.D.) 46 filed against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta and former lawmaker Michael Defensor.
The court thus ordered its sheriff to serve the arrest warrant at their place of confinement.
The court issued a hold departure order.
PD 46, Ombudsman field investigators said, "made it punishable for any public official or employee, whether of the national or local governments, to receive, directly or indirectly, and for private persons to give, or offer to give, any gift, present or other valuable thing on any occasion, including Christmas, when such gift, present, or other valuable thing is given by reason of his official position, regardless of whether or not the same is for past favor or favors or the giver hopes or expects to receive a favor or better treatment in the future from the public official or employee concerned in the discharge of his official functions."
Marcoleta, Defensor, Joseph Espiritu, and Aristotle Viray are facing a plunder case before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the amounts—P75 million when combined—that the investigators said Marcoleta accepted from Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray. This case was raffled off to the court's third division which earlier found probable cause to try it.
Defensor denied that an illegal act was committed.
On May 18, the Ombudsman investigators filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged acceptance of the amounts which allegedly happened when Marcoleta was a member of the House of Representatives.
Marcoleta said in a post on Facebook that the investigators' complaint was "without evidence of public injury, official favor, corrupt consideration, or abuse of office."
The investigators cited donor's tax returns and deposit slips in saying that Marcoleta received P30 million on Jan. 6, 2025 from Defensor and P25 million on Jan. 8, 2025 from Espiritu.
The investigators said Marcoleta received P20 million on Jan. 9, 2025 from Viray.
