Court tightens policies on media interviews of PDLs

The Sandiganbayan Third Division announced Thursday renewed measures on the conduct of media interviews on persons deprived of liberty in lieu of multiple high-profile cases.

During a bail hearing into the case of plunder against Senator Rodante Marcoleta, the court’s chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda said that new policies would be implemented to formalize interviews between the media and detainees.

Miranda recalled a physical altercation involving former congressman Mike Defensor and officials from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) as reporters attempted to conduct an ambush interview.

After a pre-trial hearing into the case last 14 August, tensions momentarily escalated as Defensor was claiming that they had been repeatedly raided by the BJMP.

Due to the tumultuous nature of the interaction, the former solon was not able to clarify what or where they were raided.

The court had since clarified that a gag order was not issued on any of the accused and that their only prohibition was with respect to discussing matters related to the merits of the case.

Given the prior incident, Miranda said that reporters who intended to conduct interviews in the future had to get consent from the court a day ahead through an email to the court’s clerk.

He further explained that interactions would be limited to not more than 10 minutes while also highlighting the limitations of questions in observance of the rules on sub judice.

BIR documents entered as evidence

Aside from tackling matters pertaining to the interviews, the court’s second hearing into the bail petition of Marcoleta, Defensor, and two others tackled documents from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) related to the donor’s tax that the senator’s contributors paid.

State prosecutors presented a total of three witnesses which were brought from the BIR that were tasked with handling the donor tax return of the respondents.

The documents were entered into the records despite initial objection from the camp of businessman Aristotle Viray.

To recall, the plunder case stemmed from the receipt of Marcoleta of P75 million in campaign donations prior to the 2025 national elections.

The court scheduled the third bail hearing this coming Monday, 14 September.