Businessmen’s gov’t dealings unprobed in Marcoleta case

Government investigators did not look into whether businessmen who donated to Senator Rodante Marcoleta had contracts or transactions with the state, a prosecution witness admitted before the Sandiganbayan.

Atty. Maria Mananghaya-Henson, director of the Ombudsman’s Luzon Field Investigation Bureau (FIB), said the bureau did not consider such an inquiry necessary in investigating the donations from Mike Defensor, Joseph Espiritu, and Aristotle Viray.

She also said she was not aware of any agreement between the donors and Marcoleta beyond what was stated in their Deeds of Donation.

The three donors gave Marcoleta a combined P75 million for his 2025 senatorial bid, according to the deeds and testimony previously presented before the court.

Mananghaya-Henson also acknowledged that none of the documents examined by investigators described the donations as “investments.”

The FIB instead used the term based on Marcoleta’s reference to “utang na loob” during an interview uploaded on YouTube.

The witness acknowledged that Marcoleta did not say in the interview how or when such a debt of gratitude would be repaid. He also did not identify which of his friends supposedly described a donation as “utang na loob.”

Despite this, Mananghaya-Henson maintained the FIB’s finding that Marcoleta would use his office to favor the donors.

Sandiganbayan Justice Fritz Delos Santos told the witness that the court is not bound by conclusions or findings of the FIB that are unsupported by documents.

Mananghaya-Henson also testified that Marcoleta solicited funds from Viray.

“It was accused Marcoleta who actually solicited,” she told the court. Her earlier testimony on the solicitation was also reported during the bail proceedings.

All three donors described their donations as funding for Marcoleta’s senatorial bid, according to the witness. The deeds stated that the money was given in support of his possible candidacy in the May 2025 elections.

Marcoleta had maintained before the Commission on Elections that the donations became his personal funds. His defense has more recently maintained that the P75 million represented campaign contributions, while prosecutors have challenged that characterization.

The court gave the prosecution until 30 September to file its Formal Offer of Evidence, with the defense given two days upon receipt to comment.

Both sides were also directed to submit their memoranda by 8 October.