[Rappler Investigates] Did Marcoleta’s money come in maletas, too?

The past few days brought tremendous, unexpected disruption on EDSA and other major thoroughfares, all because of a surprise rally staged by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC). What was that for? To protect from possible arrest their religious kin, Senator Rodante Marcoleta, who faces a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman over campaign contributions.

According to political reporter Dwight de Leon, the INC legislator, who placed sixth in the May 2025 senatorial race, failed to declare campaign contributions in his bid, where he spent P112 million. (Marcoleta declared zero campaign contributions in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures submitted to the Commission on Elections or Comelec.) How he managed to spend P112 million when his net worth was pegged at only P51 million raises a very obvious question. Where did the money come from? 

Marcoleta later confirmed in November 2025 that he got P75 million in donations, but argued that he received the money well before the start of the official campaign period. Thus, he was not yet officially a candidate and should therefore be free from the clutches of the poll body. The Comelec subsequently ruled that he was in the clear. 

But wait. Marcoleta was a representative of the SAGIP party-list group at the time he received the money. Didn’t he, in effect, admit to a grievous fault? Isn’t that tantamount to plunder — or amassing ill-gotten wealth amounting to at least P50 million? How can he defend accepting the P75 million? Did Marcoleta’s money come in maletas, too?

That didn’t escape the Ombudsman, who, in consistent and unexplainable fashion, announced the office would be filing this week, before the anti-graft court, non-bailable plunder charges against Marcoleta. An arrest warrant would be expected to be issued by the Sandiganbayan not long after. Why such an intent needs to be announced and broadcast beforehand escapes me. It’s tantamount to giving the target of an arrest warrant fair warning so he could plot his next defensive moves. 

Sounds familiar? Isn’t that what happened in the case of Senator Bato dela Rosa, too, who started to absent himself in the Senate after former justice secretary-turned Ombudsman Boying Remulla announced in November 2025 that an arrest warrant had already been issued by the International Criminal Court against him? 

On May 9, 2026, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, while claiming he had no information about the warrant, said they were preparing a “10k task force for the dragnet operations in case a warrant…is issued.” Two days later on May 11, 2026, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and his supporters, including the newly-surfaced Dela Rosa, ousted then-Senate president Tito Sotto, prompting the start of chaos in the Senate. The leadership change has largely been regarded as being linked to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. 

Dela Rosa has since gone into hiding.

But back to Marcoleta. A plunder conviction for the embattled senator carries with it life imprisonment, a rather unpalatable scenario for the Iglesia legislator. Given the advance announcement, I wouldn’t blame Marcoleta and his cohorts, including former congressman Mike Defensor, for mobilizing supporters. If you recall, Defensor had been linked to an establishment that allegedly engages in trafficking of women. This was denied.

The INC has decried what it calls “selective justice” in the case of Marcoleta as other similarly situated legislators have not been aggressively pursued by the administration. Cases in point: former speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez and his ally, resigned Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co, who, according to latest word, has sought asylum in France. Nothing more has been heard about him. 

There’s also Edwin Gardiola, who, according to Dwight’s report in late 2025, buys projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, sells them to contractors and others with the wherewithal, then offers commissions to House members who consent to “park” these deals in their respective districts. It’s an abominable practice that mirrors blatant, in-your-face corruption. Yet no word about any complaints or cases being filed against him, like he has faded into complete oblivion.

Romualdez, meanwhile, has figured in another investigation by Rappler lead researcher Jodesz Gavilan. A fraternity brother of the Leyte congressman has been linked to a P425-million Connecticut estate — the sixth such property that was purchased or that changed hands among Romualdez associates when he became speaker in 2022.

Over in Cebu, the now-notorious Discayas, have left a trail, too. Cebu-based reporter John Sitchon discovered how damaging a multi-million-peso flood control project became to residents of Barangay Cotcot in Liloan. A Metro Cebu flood control master plan prescribed the construction of a diversion channel at the Cotcot River’s downstream to improve drainage capacity. It was not followed.

With no other exit points, debris piled up and washed away houses, leaving thousands homeless. The contract awarded to the Discayas instead required them to build an embankment with a pathway on the side lined with street lights. That was very costly. Read more here.

By Monday, the impeachment trial of the Vice President will begin, after the conclusion last June 25 of the pre-trial. Another busy week ahead for all of us. We have impeached five officials in the past, including Sara Duterte herself. Monday’s trial will mark Round 2 for her. The big question: how will this trial end?

Till Thursday after next!

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Did the PNP just foil another school shooting in Leyte?

– Rappler.com

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