Under the law, all contributions in connection with the elections should be reported.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said this on Monday, Nov. 10, amid Senator Rodante Marcoleta's statement that he withheld details about campaign donations in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) because his contributors had asked to keep their identities confidential.

Marcoleta stated this in an interview on Net 25 when asked about his campaign spending. In his SOCE, which is available on Comelec's website, he declared zero contributions received and spent P112 million in the May 2025 midterm polls. Yet in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), he declared a net worth of P51.96 million.

In the interview, Marcoleta said that his friends asked him to accept their donation to his campaign, in exchange for keeping their anonymity.

"Ang mga kaibigan ko nagbigay sa akin talaga. Alam mo paki-usap lang nila? Isa lang. Tanggapin mo ang tulong namin sa iyo...Tanggapin mo ang halagang ito. Isa lang ang pakiusap nila sa akin, eh sana huwag mo na kaming i-disclose ang identity (My friends really gave me some help. You know what their only request was? Just one thing — accept our help... accept this amount. Their only request from me was that I don’t disclose their identities)," he said.

"Ngayon dahil sa hindi ko puwedeng isiwalat ang kanilang identity, kaya sinabi kong zero ‘yung contribution, na mapipilitan ako ngayon na gawing zero iyon. Dahil kapag nilagyan ko ng amount iyon, mapipilitan akong na isa isa kayong idi-disclose ko ang inyong identity (Now, since I couldn’t reveal their identities, I had to declare zero contribution. I was left with no choice but to put zero, because if I indicated an amount there, I would also be required to disclose each of their identities)," he added.

When asked about this, Garcia said that they would have to check Marcoleta's SOCE.

"Tingnan ko po muna ang submitted SOCE sa amin (Let me first review the SOCE that was submitted to us)," Garcia said in a Viber message.

"The law provides for the reporting of all contributions. Unless po iba ang nature ng mga yun (Unless, those contributions fall under a different classification or nature)," he said.

Under Section 107 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), every candidate and treasurer of the political party shall, not later than seven days, or earlier than ten days before the day of the election, file in duplicate full, true and itemized, statement of all contributions and expenditures in connection with the election.