PNP stands by Marcoleta medical findings amid separate PGH exam

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday defended its findings on Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s medical condition as he was ordered by the Sandiganbayan to undergo a separate medical examination by the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

“Rather than doubting the evaluation of our doctors here, the Sandiganbayan did this to erase the public’s doubts,” PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co told reporters in Camp Crame.

“We stand by our doctors here. They will not gamble with their future, with their careers. They have no reason for us to doubt,” he stressed.

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READ: PNP brings Marcoleta to PGH for exam after Sandiganbayan order

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Marcoleta was arrested last July 6 over a plunder case in connection with a P75-million donation he received but did not declare when he was a party-list representative before his 2025 senatorial bid.

However, he was taken to the PNP General Hospital (PNPGH) in Camp Crame after reportedly experiencing chest pains.

Doctors at the PNPGH subsequently said the senator was experiencing mild pneumonia and degenerative disc disease, a condition related to the spine, a week after he was arrested for plunder.

On Tuesday morning, Marcoleta was taken to the PGH in Manila on Tuesday morning to assess whether he still needed to be confined at the PNPGH.

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“Just like any other detention facility… it is incumbent upon us that, whenever someone in our custody has an illness, of course, what else will we do but to bring them to the hospital?” Co maintained.

“Our rules here provide that there are no VIP rooms. We only have the normal rooms, so that’s where we brought him and that’s where he is recovering,” he added.

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Co noted that the PNP has yet to determine what medical exams will be done for Marcoleta and what time he will be returned to the PNPGH. /das

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