While asserting that the election case against Senator Rodante Marcoleta had already been dismissed, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the poll body remains willing to coordinate with the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the recommended filing of a plunder case against the senator.

“The Commission on Elections is ready to help and coordinate with the Ombudsman. On the part of Comelec, however, the motu proprio investigation against Sen. Marcoleta has already been dismissed,” Garcia said.

“With regards to the revival of the case, Comelec has not reached that thinking. There is also no Motion for Reconsideration (MR) received by the poll body,” he added. 

The poll body last March terminated the investigation against the reported inconsistencies in Marcoleta’s Statement of Contributions and Expenditures for the May 2025 polls.

Probe on contributors continues

The Comelec en banc ruled in its resolution that it has ordered a halt to the probe after not finding any evidence that the senator supposedly committed an election offense. 

Despite this, Comelec ordered its Law Department to investigate the three contributors for failing to submit their respective Reports of Contributions, one month after the national polls. 

The Office of the Ombudsman said its investigators have recommended plunder and indirect bribery charges against Marcoleta and former Congressman Michael Defensor, both opposition stalwarts perceived as allied with Vice President Sara Duterte.

Aside from Marcoleta and Defensor, the Ombudsman investigator also includes Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray in the filing of plunder and indirect bribery charges.