Senator Rodante Marcoleta – Photo courtesy of Avito Dalan/Philippine News Agency.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division has ordered the joint trial of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s plunder case and one of his three pending cases for alleged violation of Presidential Decree No. 46, which prohibits public officials from accepting gifts.
During Friday’s hearing on Marcoleta’s medical condition, Third Division Chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda announced that the anti-graft court had accepted the consolidation of the cases after the Sixth Division endorsed the records earlier this week.
In its resolution, the Sixth Division ruled that the bribery charge was closely linked to the plunder case already pending before the Third Division, making a joint trial appropriate.
The charges stemmed from the alleged receipt of Php 75 million in campaign donations while Marcoleta was serving as a party-list representative. State prosecutors alleged that the funds were omitted from his financial and campaign disclosures.
Prosecutors said businessman Joseph Espiritu allegedly contributed Php 20 million, businessman Aristotle Viray Php 25 million, and former representative Mike Defensor Php 30 million to Marcoleta’s senatorial campaign.
The consolidated case covers only the bribery charge involving Espiritu. Two other Presidential Decree No. 46 cases remain pending before the Sandiganbayan’s First Division, involving Viray, and Fourth Division, involving Defensor.
Authorities have already returned the arrest warrants for Defensor, Espiritu and Viray, who are now detained at the New Quezon City Jail. Marcoleta remains under medical care at the Philippine National Police General Hospital and is expected to be transferred to the same detention facility once doctors clear him for discharge.