Senator Rodante Marcoleta – Photo courtesy of Avito Dalan/Philippine News Agency.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was transferred from the Philippine National Police General Hospital in Quezon City to the Philippine General Hospital in Manila on Tuesday for a court-ordered medical examination.
The vehicle carrying Marcoleta left Camp Crame at around 11:15 a.m. as police escorted him to PGH.
PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co said the senator remained under police custody during the transfer. He confirmed that Marcoleta was handcuffed and wearing an orange detainee uniform beneath protective clothing.
Marcoleta was also seen using a wheelchair before boarding the vehicle. Co said this was standard hospital procedure for patients being discharged.
The transfer followed an order from the Sandiganbayan Third Division directing the PNP to bring Marcoleta to PGH to determine whether he still required confinement at the police hospital.
Marcoleta was arrested on July 6 in connection with a plunder case involving an alleged undeclared Php 75 million donation received while he was serving as a party-list representative before the 2025 elections.
He was later admitted to the PNP General Hospital after complaining of chest pain and was subsequently diagnosed with hypertension and mild pneumonia.
The Sandiganbayan also ordered Marcoleta to appear before the court on Wednesday. His co-accused, former party-list representative Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray, remain in government custody.