Marcoleta, Estrada suspensions ‘on hold’
The Senate has yet to implement the suspensions of Senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada pending the resolution of their respective motions for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan.
The suspension orders were being held in abeyance in keeping with past practice in dealing with orders issued by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary against members of the Senate.
The Senate considers the suspension orders as not immediately executory upon receipt and that it could await the final decisions on the motions for reconsideration before implementing them.
Despite the suspension orders remaining unimplemented, the two senators were no longer receiving their salaries or funds for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).
Only funds for their staff salaries continued to be provided, he added.
Both senators are detained at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas. They were ordered suspended in October over separate criminal cases before the Sandiganbayan.
As requested
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the holding in abeyance of the suspensions was requested by the two senators.
“I got letters from Senator Jinggoy and Senator Marcoleta asking me to hold their suspensions in abeyance because, based on information we got from their staff, they would file a motion for reconsideration,” Gatchalian said in a radio interview on DZBB.
“That was the practice in the past, and that is what we are following now,” he added.
The Office of the Ombudsman charged Marcoleta with plunder and three counts of violating the anti-graft law in July over his alleged receipt of P75 million in campaign donations in 2025. His three alleged donors were also detained.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division ordered his 90-day preventive suspension on 19 October.
Legarda return uncertain
Estrada, meanwhile, was suspended by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on 12 October over pending plunder and graft charges linked to his alleged receipt of kickbacks from Department of Public Works and Highways flood control projects.
It was the second time Estrada had been suspended over similar allegations. The Sandiganbayan Second Division ordered his suspension in June.
The salaries and MOOE funds of Senator Loren Legarda had also been withheld because of her continued absence from Senate sessions due to medical concerns, Gatchalian said.
He said he did not know when Legarda would return to the country, as she had been extending her medical leave on a weekly basis.
Gatchalian said he had exchanged text messages with Legarda to check on her condition.
“Through texts, I ask about her condition and tell her, of course, that we are all praying for her, but only up to that,” he said.
Legarda has been absent from Senate sessions since 3 August and is reportedly in France with her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, where she is receiving treatment for lung and autoimmune-related conditions.