The Sandiganbayan Third Division has granted a request to combine the plunder trial of Senator Rodante Marcoleta with a separate case involving his alleged violation of the country’s anti-gift-giving law.
The consolidation, which was initiated by the anti-graft court’s Sixth Division, links Marcoleta’s ongoing plunder case to allegations that he breached Presidential Decree No. 46, a decree that strictly outlaws public servants from receiving gifts and prohibits private individuals from giving them in connection with official government functions.
The lawmaker’s plunder charges stem from an alleged failure to declare ₱75 million in political campaign donations. Marcoleta is standing trial alongside former Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Mike Defensor, as well as corporate executives Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray.
The court had previously ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence to establish probable cause against Marcoleta and Defensor, greenlighting the trials for the alleged statutory violations.