Marcoleta ‘solicited’ campaign funds from coaccused – witness

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Rodante Marcoleta “solicited” funds from businessman Aristotle Viray, one of the lawmaker’s coaccused in a plunder case, a government witness told the Sandiganbayan on Thursday.

Maria Melinda Mananghaya-Henson of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Bureau gave the testimony during the bail hearing for the case that stemmed from Marcoleta’s alleged failure to declare P75 million as part of his wealth in 2025, when he was still a House member.

Marcoleta filed his candidacy for senator in the May 2025 elections while still serving as Sagip party-list representative.

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Of the undeclared P75 million, P20 million was said to have come from Viray. But it was not stated in Mananghaya-Henson’s testimony whether that was also the same amount solicited from the businessman.

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Mananghaya-Henson headed the team that conducted a fact-finding investigation on the case. Taking clarificatory questions from Associate Justice Karl Miranda, chair of the Sandiganbayan Third Division, she said Viray had stated in his counteraffidavit that “it was Marcoleta who solicited” the amount from him.

The witness also noted that Viray and other coaccused—businessman Joseph Espiritu and former congressman Mike Defensor—went to the same notary public in Pasig City to notarize their deeds of donation in November 2025.

She said it was Marcoleta’s staff member, Ebenezer Santos, who executed the deed of donation of Defensor and Espiritu.

When asked by Prosecutor Joshua Tan what would be the implication of Santos’ action, she said it proved there was “a collusion and conspiracy among the accused in this case.”

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Bribery rap changed

Mananghaya-Henson’s team recommended the filing of plunder charges against Marcoleta, Defensor, Espiritu and Viray.

The team also recommended charges for indirect bribery against the accused, but it was eventually not included in the Ombudsman’s resolution to file cases against them, she told the court.

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Instead, the Ombudsman charged them with violation of Presidential Decree No. 46, which prohibits private individuals from giving gifts to public officials, and the latter from receiving them.

Replying to Associate Justice Ronald Moreno, Mananghaya-Henson said her team would have still recommended the filing of plunder charges against Marcoleta if indeed, as the accused claimed, the P75 million was spent for his senatorial campaign.

Based on Comelec records

She said the filing was based on the documents Marcoleta submitted to the Commission on Elections, namely his verified position paper and the statement of contributions and expenditures. 

Marcoleta labeled the P75 million as “personal funds” in his VPP, while he declared zero campaign donations under his Soce.

The senator later disclosed on national TV that he did not declare the campaign donations in his Soce because the donors asked to remain anonymous. But he eventually identified them in his VPP as Defensor, Espiritu and Viray.

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At the stand on Thursday,  Mananghaya-Henson said: “We found that Marcoleta is more bound to his donors than to his obligation under the law. /cb