Senator Rodante Marcoleta entered a plea of not guilty concerning his plunder case before the Sandiganbayan Third Division involving his supposed receipt of P75 million in campaign donations prior to the 2025 national elections.

Prior to the pleading, his legal counsel informed the anti-graft court that they would be withdrawing a motion to quash that was earlier filed before the court but had remained unresolved.

To recall, a motion to quash is a legal remedy that a respondent in a case can file before a court to deem an information, case, or proceeding as null or void based on the premise that the same was improperly issued or was legally flawed.

Given the sudden development, Associate Justice Karl Miranda sought clarification on whether the withdrawal was properly consulted with Marcoleta and if it was freely decided and without force.

The senator proceeded to confirm with Miranda that the decision was voluntary, while his lawyers said that the same was thoroughly consulted with the other respondents in the plunder charge.

Asked by reporters after the proceeding, Marcoleta’s legal counsel explained that withdrawing their motion was meant to expedite the process and reach a speedy disposition of the case, given that their sought remedy had been stalled.

“We withdrew it so the trial will proceed,” one of his lawyers said.

During the same hearing, Marcoleta and businessman Joseph Espiritu pleaded not guilty to a violation of Presidential Decree No. 46, which also stemmed from the aforementioned donations.

It marked just one of the three counts in the gift-giving case that the senator has before the Sandiganbayan, with two separate cases involving his donors identified as former congressman Mike Defensor and businessman Aristotle Viray pending in different courts.