Plunder charges was filed before the Sandiganbayan against Senator Rodante Marcoleta over the P75 million in campaign contributions that he received ahead of the senatorial elections in 2025.

The Office of the Ombudsman said Marcoleta did not declare the said campaign donation in his Statement of Campaign Expenditures (SOCE).

The Sandiganbayan last May granted the Ombudsman’s request to issue a precautionary hold departure order on all four for the then-pending preliminary investigation of the plunder complaint.

Ombudsman prosecutors have said that Marcoleta unjustly enriched himself by allegedly accepting an “unconscionable” P75 million gift from three individuals.

They said that while Marcoleta had stated in interviews that he received P75 million in campaign donations, the amount was not reflected in his 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) or his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) for his 2025 Senate bid.

“By accepting money from private individuals amounting to P75 million, he fell short of upholding the standard of responsibility and integrity,” the Ombudsman prosecutors said.

Marcoleta was the representative of the Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty (SAGIP) party-list at the time of the donations.

“Respondent Marcoleta unjustly enriched himself at the expense and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines when he accepted such excessive sum of money from respondents Defensor, Viray, and Espiritu,” the Ombudsman said.

“They form part of a deeper and more nefarious design— to intimidate independent voices, to punish dissent, and to warn every senator that the price of asking hard questions could lead to personal damnation,” Marcoleta said.

“If the intention of these cases is to silence me, let me say this at the beginning. It has failed. I will not be silenced,” he added.