Marcoleta still at PNP hospital days after yielding

Police officers escort Sen. Rodante Marcoleta as he leaves the Sandiganbayan on Monday, July 6, 2026. —Inquirer photo/Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — Three days after being placed under arrest, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was still being considered by his police custodians as too ill to be transferred from the hospital to a regular jail.

The lawmaker, who faces trial for the nonbailable charge of plunder, still needed to undergo some tests as part of detention protocol and have his blood pressure monitored at the Philippine National Police General Hospital inside Camp Crame, officials said on Wednesday.

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Police Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani, chief for internal medicine of the PNP Health Service, said the 72-year-old senator was “clinically stable” but must stay confined due to fluctuating blood pressure.

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Marcoleta complained of chest pains and high blood pressure when he surrendered to the Sandiganbayan on Monday, shortly after the antigraft court issued a warrant for his arrest.

READ: Sandiganbayan issues new arrest warrants vs Marcoleta, Defensor

He and three other accused are facing charges for plunder and for violating the law prohibiting public officials from receiving gifts.

The cases stemmed from the senator’s failure to declare as part of his wealth the P75 million that he said he had received as donation for his senatorial campaign in the 2025 elections.

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READ: Sandigan orders consolidation of Marcoleta’s plunder, gift receipt cases

Also charged and now in detention are the three donors he identified: former congressman Mike Defensor and businessmen Aristotle Viray and Joseph Espiritu.

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Arraignment postponed

Also on Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division announced the postponement of their July 10 arraignment and pretrial proceedings in the plunder case, citing their pending motions as the reason.

Marcoleta, Defensor and Espiritu have filed motions to have their cases dismissed, while Viray has a pending motion to post bail, according to the clerk of court, Dennis Pulma.

The court has yet to set a new date for the postponed proceedings.

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Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan has ordered the PNP to submit a report on Marcoleta’s medical condition. —HOLLY BACAY, AND JOHN ERIC MENDOZA