A routine Monday morning at the Sandiganbayan escalated rapidly after Senator Rodante Marcoleta was arrested following a courtroom lockdown.
The lawmaker had arrived at the anti-graft court’s Third Division to personally submit a motion to dismiss a plunder case involving an undisclosed ₱75 million—an amount he acknowledged receiving but failed to declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) and campaign expense reports.
The swift law enforcement response put an end to online rumors claiming the Philippine National Police (PNP) would back down from detaining the senator, especially after a recent three-day protest that traveled from the People Power Monument to Liwasang Bonifacio.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla detailed that Marcoleta arrived with his lawyers between 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. The situation shifted instantly when the court rejected his legal challenge, impacting Marcoleta and his co-defendants: businessman Joseph Espiritu, Aristotle Viray, and former Anakalusugan Partylist Representative Mike Defensor.
“When the motion to quash was denied, the Sandiganbayan was locked down and he was not allowed to go out,” Remulla stated during a press briefing at Camp Crame.
Upon the denial of the motion, the Sandiganbayan issued an arrest warrant that was immediately executed.
Security at the court was heavily reinforced as Secretary Remulla and PNP Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez, Jr. arrived to personally manage the processing and Marcoleta’s subsequent transfer to Camp Crame.
When questioned about whether the lawmaker surrendered or was captured, Remulla noted it was a mix of both.
“It was both,” Remulla said. “He went there voluntarily to the Sandiganbayan to file a motion to quash. Subsequently when it was denied we closed down the building, we arrived and we arrested him so it is both,” he stressed.
Shortly after Marcoleta’s arrest, police tracked down and apprehended Defensor and Espiritu at a Quezon City coffee shop. Law enforcement operations remain underway to locate the remaining co-accused, Aristotle Viray.