Screengrab from an online broadcast last 7 November 2025 wherein Senator Rodante Marcoleta said that he had received campaign donations prior to the 2025 elections that he did not declare in his SOCE based on a promise to keep his donors anonymous.
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A video showing Sen. Rodante Marcoleta discussing P75 million in campaign donations he received in 2025 was formally admitted as part of the prosecution’s evidence in his ongoing plunder trial before the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
In the online broadcast, Marcoleta was seen discussing donations he said came from friends while he was still serving in the House of Representatives.
“My friends really gave me a donation, you know the only thing they asked for? Accept our assistance…because we believe that you should be a senator,” Marcoleta said.
“They had only one request, ‘hopefully you can not disclose our identity’ for many reasons,” he added.
Marcoleta said he eventually had to identify the donors when preparing his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures because a deed of acceptance of donation had to be accomplished.
He said that because he had promised not to disclose their identities, he declared zero campaign contributions instead.
“Now, since I can not disclose their identity, that’s why I just said that I had P0 contributions, I was forced to indicate P0 contributions because if I put an amount I will be forced to enumerate their identities,” he said.
Marcoleta also maintained in the interview that there was no law requiring him to disclose the names of his campaign contributors.
The video later became the basis of a complaint filed against him on 5 December 2025 by election watchdog Kontra Daya, prompting an investigation by the Commission on Elections.
Comelec later found that the alleged act did not constitute an election offense, with the Comelec en banc voting on 18 March to terminate its investigation.
A separate investigation was later conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman, leading to the filing of plunder and three counts of violation of Presidential Decree No. 46 against Marcoleta.
His alleged campaign donors were later identified as former congressman Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray.
Marcoleta, Defensor, Espiritu and Viray are detained at the New Quezon City Jail-Male Dormitory while facing the plunder case.
All four have filed petitions for bail.
Monday’s hearing marked the third time the court took up their petitions for provisional liberty.
