PNP says Marcoleta ‘fit to travel,’ but still no jail transfer

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who has been under hospital confinement since his arrest for a nonbailable plunder case on Monday, is now fit to travel as his health condition had improved, a Philippine National Police doctor told the Sandiganbayan on Friday.

Marcoleta, unlike his coaccused former Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray, has yet to be committed to the Quezon City Jail after he was placed under observation at the PNP General Hospital (PNPGH) in Camp Crame due to his fluctuating blood pressure.

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The senator was expected to return to the Sandiganbayan last Wednesday to continue his booking process.

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But Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani, chief of the Internal Medicine Department at PNPGH, said Marcoleta had yet to be cleared to leave the hospital.

During a hearing at the Sandiganbayan Third Division on Friday, Bayani told Associate Justice Karl Miranda, the division chair, that Marcoleta’s condition had “improved” and he was fit to travel provided he wears a face mask.

“He only has occasional chest pain and no difficulty of breathing,” Bayani said.

Still needing treatment

However, PNPGH recommended that Marcoleta remain in the hospital to finish the required treatment for his mild pneumonia, which was confirmed during checkups, she said.

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Miranda ordered Bayani to submit a daily notarized report of Marcoleta’s health condition “until he could physically come to court for [his] commitment.”

Authorities already returned Marcoleta’s arrest warrant on Monday, but the court did not release a commitment order for him at that time due to his health condition.

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The cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Marcoleta and his campaign donors—Defensor, Espiritu and Viray—stemmed from the P75-million campaign donation that the senator received from them while he was a party-list lawmaker in 2025. According to state prosecutors, the donation was not declared in the senator’s financial and campaign disclosures.

Why allow visitors?

Also on Friday, Associate Justice Ronald Moreno, a senior member of the Third Division, questioned the police’s decision to allow visitors to meet with Marcoleta despite the PNP doctors’ assessment that he required isolation for his mild pneumonia.

Among Marcoleta’s visitors this week, aside from his lawyers and family members, were Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Robinhood Padilla.

“Why are you allowing him to be visited if he needs isolation? That, I cannot reconcile,” Moreno asked Bayani, who took the witness stand during the hearing on the senator’s health status.

Bayani explained that it was the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) which has a say on the matter.

Asked by Moreno if PNPGH will allow visitors for Marcoleta from now on, Bayani said: “No sir, I will coordinate with the CIDG.”

Cases consolidated

In an interview after the hearing, Col. John Guiagui, CIDG unit director for Metro Manila, clarified that the visit of Duterte and Padilla were allowed because “that is the request of Senator Marcoleta and his family.”

But from now on, Guiagui said, “We will follow the court order. We’ll see to it that visitations are restricted given [Marcoleta’s] medical condition.”

Guiagui said only lawyers, immediate family members, and “requested visitors” involved in the senator’s cases can visit.

Meanwhile, Miranda said the court allowed the consolidation of the plunder case in the Third Division and a separate case for violation of Presidential Decree No. 46 against Marcoleta which had been raffled off to the antigraft court’s Sixth Division. PD 46 prohibits government officials from receiving, and private individuals from giving, gifts on any occasion.

On Wednesday, the Sixth Division forwarded the case records of PD 46 to the Third Division, subject to the latter’s acceptance.

In a resolution, the Sixth Division said the PD 46 case “is merely a component” of plunder pending before the Third Division, noting that it is proper to consolidate PD 46 with the plunder case “for joint trial.”

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Aside from his plunder and PD 46 case now consolidated in the Third Division, Marcoleta is also facing two counts of violation of PD 46 in the antigraft court’s First and Fourth Divisions.