Detained Senator Rodante Marcoleta on Friday broke his silence on the allegations that he coached flood control “whistleblower” Orly Guteza to falsely implicate former Speaker Martin Romualdez in the corruption scheme, saying his recantation came as no surprise but “obviously understandable,” given the supposed threats against him and his family.

Marcoleta issued the statement a week after Guteza retracted his 25 September 2025 testimony linking Romualdez to kickbacks, alleging that the senator and former Rep. Mike Defensor pressured and bribed him to make the damaging allegations against the ex-House leader in exchange for money and scholarships for his children.

In debunking the allegations, Marcoleta said it was improbable for him to have conspired with a “complete stranger,” much less provide a detailed account of the supposed deliveries of cash-filled suitcases to Romualdez and others after a mere one-hour meeting with Guteza and Defensor in a restaurant. 

In his 13 August affidavit, Guteza claimed he was invited to a dinner meeting by the two politicians at a Japanese restaurant in Pasay on 24 September, a day before his appearance at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) probe into flood control anomalies. It was allegedly arranged by Defensor’s driver.

“It is implausible that within a few minutes of my arrival at said restaurant and [getting] introduced to Guteza, I could have probed his character, developed complete trust and confidence in him, acquainted myself with the details of his narrative, re-wrote his account, instructed him on the succeeding steps, and then dashed back to the Senate,” Marcoleta’s statement reads. 

Marcoleta remains detained at the New Quezon City Jail along with Defensor for plunder charges. He had his statement posted on his official Facebook page through an administrator, according to his staff, since detainees are barred from using mobile phones.

The opposition lawmaker argued that it is far more believable that Guteza’s “belated” recantation was likely a result of the “threats to the life and/or liberty of his wife and children.” He maintained that Guteza has been receiving threats soon after his (BRC) testimony and was taken into custody by unknown individuals, who are likely to have forced him to sign the “outrageous statement” contradicting his previous one.

“[H]e was made to sign and read out in camera a different statement, forcing him to deny knowledge of what he earlier testified and to accuse me and former Rep. Mike Defensor of orchestration upon ‘bribe’ of money.” 

“Then, he repeatedly stated to his wife that this different statement was not his, yet had to sign it to spare his family from potential danger. Finally, his wife admitted that indeed their family was being subjected to threats by the same persons restricting his movement and liberty,” he asserted. 

Contrary to the new affidavit, Marcoleta alleged that Guteza voluntarily came forward to testify on the allegations of kickback deliveries in the BRC hearing “despite the risk to his personal safety and freedom.”

Nonetheless, the senator pointed out that his respect for Guteza, being a retired Philippine Marine, “has not been diminished by the release of his completely different statement.”

“It was unsurprisingly expected as it was obviously understandable given the ordeal he was subjected to,” he stressed.

Guteza, a “former security aide” of ex-lawmaker Elizaldy Co, disappeared from public view after appearing in the BRC hearing on 25 September last year, and only resurfaced last week to retract his allegations against Romualdez and his former boss.

He was a “surprise witness” of Marcoleta in that hearing and alleged that he delivered suitcases of “basura,” or flood control kickbacks, to Co and Romualdez, allegedly containing about P48 million each, totaling up to P1.6 billion.

Co and Romualdez had denied receiving kickbacks purportedly delivered to their posh properties in Valle Verde 6, Pasig, and McKinley, Taguig, respectively, with the former Speaker asserting that Guteza’s testimony was “pilit na pilit” (extremely forced), suggesting he was coached by Marcoleta.

Similarly, Senator Ping Lacson, the BRC chair at the time, made the same observation, citing Senate CCTV footage showing Guteza spending half an hour in Marcoleta’s office before appearing in the hearing on the same day.

Before Guteza’s recantation, four of Co’s 18 alleged bodyguards also withdrew statements involving cash-filled suitcases purportedly delivered to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Romualdez,z and other politicians allied with the administration.

The group was also presented by Marcoleta and Defensor as “whistleblowers”, though they previously denied they were bribed to fabricate the allegations against the former Speaker and Co.