ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ombudsman cites 'financial capacity, influence' in bid to stop Marcoleta, others from leaving PH

Ombudsman cites 'financial capacity, influence' in bid to stop Marcoleta, others from leaving PH

Published May 26, 2026 03:04 pm
(MB FILE PHOTO)
(MB FILE PHOTO)
The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) on Tuesday, May 26, argued before the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division that Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former lawmaker Michael “Mike” Defensor, and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray should be barred from leaving the country pending proceedings on plunder and related complaints, citing alleged their financial capacity, and influence.
During the hearing on the OMB’s application for a Precautionary Hold Departure Order (PHDO), Office of the Ombudsman Luzon Field Investigation Bureau (FIB) Director Maria Melinda Mananghaya-Henson, who stood as prosecution’s witness, testified on the basis for the anti-graft body’s request.
“Our basis for saying he’s a flight risk is that respondent possesses the sufficient influence as a senator. The respondent also has economic resources to do so,” Mananghaya-Henson told the court.
“The respondent actually has the tendency to conceal and evade liability as in fact in his statements of expenses and statements of assets and liabilities, he did not declare the 75 million,” she added.
The PHDO application stemmed from complaints involving allegations of plunder, indirect bribery, and violation of Presidential Decree No. 46, which prohibits public officials from receiving gifts and private individuals from giving them.
Per Mananghaya-Henson, the investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by Danilo Arao and received by the OMB in December 2025.
She said the OMB proceeded with its own probe regardless of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec’s) findings that no election offense had been committed, stressing that the poll body’s proceedings involved a different subject matter.
The witness said the OMB’s investigation focused on determining possible other offenses.
Mananghaya-Henson told the anti-graft court that investigators found basis to allege that Marcoleta received P75 million from three individuals—during that time he was a sitting lawmaker. The alleged gifts or donations were made in January 2025.
According to her, the alleged P75-million amount was “manifestly excessive,” noting that a sitting congressman earning around P299,000 monthly at the time would supposedly need about 20 years to earn such a sum.
She said public officials are required to declare such amounts in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), adding that even if the funds had already been spent or converted into other assets, these should still have been reflected in the SALN.
Likewise, she argued that the alleged concealment before the Comelec and in SALN submissions indicated a supposed intention to evade liability.
“Our basis is that in the proceedings before the Commission on Election (Comelec) and in submitting his SALN, he actually concealed,” Mananghaya-Henson said.
“And the concealment itself is an indication for us that respondent will be evading liability,” she added.
In addition, Mananghaya-Henson said that the fact-finding investigation had already been completed and endorsed for preliminary investigation proceedings.
She also explained why the three alleged donors were included as respondents in the complaint.
“We included the donors because we consider these three are actually conspirators of Marcoleta,” she said.
“First, they have the financial capacity, having been able to give out millions of pesos to Marcoleta,” she added.
The witness further alleged that the donors belatedly filed donor’s tax returns.
“Also, we consider them as conspirators in the concealment of the crime which was committed because these three private individuals belatedly filed the donor’s tax return in order to conceal the illegality of the gifts given if they know that the donor’s tax returns is actually filed almost one year after the donations were given,” Mananghaya-Henson said.
“And therefore, it was not in compliance with the law already,” she added.
During the hearing, Mananghaya-Henson also said the OMB had subpoenaed Marcoleta’s travel records but had yet to receive a response.
She added that the OMB’s recommendation was to file plunder charges against the respondents.
The Sandiganbayan has yet to rule on the OMB’s PHDO application.

Related Tags

Ombudsman OMB cites financial capacity influence bid to stop Rodante Marcoleta senator others from leaving Philippines PHDO
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.