Remulla lauds potential ‘record-breaking’ case vs Marcoleta
The plunder case against Senator Rodante Marcoleta may be resolved in “record-breaking” pace as prosecutors formally rested their presentation of evidence to prove its allegations of plunder at the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman said.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla expressed Friday his belief that a decision on the case of Marcoleta could be reached in less than one year, a detail he noted was a contrast to previous cases involving public officials.
Remulla highlighted that the charges were filed before the anti-graft body just three months ago with prosecutors taking a total of just two months to present their witnesses through the court hearings.
“We might be breaking records here, especially if the Sandiganbayan will really do its job. In just one year, a case can be finished,” he explained.
The Ombudsman stressed that an important part of their work was to ensure that the “gestation period of cases” was reduced, recalling how cases on PDAF and the fertilizer fund scams took an estimated 15 years to be resolved.
Remulla, however, would acknowledge that the case of Marcoleta was unique in the sense that the issue was as simple as answering a single legal question–identifying if the senator had in fact committed plunder.
“What is coming out in the case of Marcoleta is actually a purely legal question. What happened was everything was admitted so there’s only one question, whether or not he committed plunder,” he said.
It is worth noting that state prosecutors presented a total of seven witnesses during Marcoleta’s bail hearings and trial proper.
Prosecutors officially rested their case last 8 October after the lawyers of the senator stipulated on matters related to the testimonies of their final two witnesses.
Remulla said that the case was “simple,” particularly as there were many admissions on the part of Marcoleta.
“The evidence [in that case], we don’t really have to prove many of them. We just have to remind the court that these records exist, these admissions are there,” the Ombudsman said.
Throughout the hearings undertaken at the Sandiganbayan, officials from the Ombudsman and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that Marcoleta had indicated in his verified position paper that the funds were his personal funds.
A separate evidence of the prosecution was a clip from one of the senator’s interviews in 2025 wherein he admitted that he received campaign contributions that he left out of his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures.
Marcoleta had stated that the reason for his indifference to declaring the amounts was because of his donors requesting that they not be publicly named.
The senator’s lawyers are set to begin their presentation of evidence on 19 October.