Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano characterized detained lawmakers Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta as “political prisoners” during a social media broadcast on Saturday, July 18.
The minority leader made the statement after a viewer inquired during his livestream about the possibility of Marcoleta’s release.
”I have faith po,” Cayetano responded.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a political prisoner is specified as “a person put in prison because of his or her political beliefs”.
Marcoleta is currently held on plunder charges tied to undeclared campaign donations. Meanwhile, Estrada faces plunder and graft allegations connected to a ₱573 million flood-control corruption scandal.
Despite these criminal charges, Cayetano maintained that the legal actions against them are politically motivated.
”I consider Sen. Jinggoy, Sen. Marcoleta, former congressman Mike Defensor, they are political prisoners,” Cayetano said in his livestream on his social media account.
“Kinulong sila dahil hindi sa kaso kundi sa konsensya nila. Wine-weaponize ang DOJ, ang Office of the Ombudsman, not for justice,” he added.
Cayetano indicated that he intends to elaborate further on the matter following the fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 27.
Rejected ₱10K Financial Aid Proposal
During the same broadcast, Cayetano claimed that the Chief Executive turned down his legislative proposal to provide ₱10,000 in cash assistance to eligible beneficiaries recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic after the 2022 elections.
Initially introduced in July 2022, Cayetano’s proposed measure—known as Senate Bill 62 or the Sampung Libong Pag-asa Law—languished at the committee level until the 19th Congress concluded in June 2025, Senate tracking data shows.
”So noong 2021, going into 2022, sabi ko marami pang hindi nakaka-recover, so kaya ng ating budget magbigay. Pero pagkapanalo ni President Marcos, ayaw niya,” Cayetano said in his social media livestream.
The minority leader argued that the national budget has consistently maintained the capacity to fund the cash distribution.
”Pero every single year po tinatanong ko ‘yun sa aming Chairman of Finance, 200 to 300, minsan 400 billion ang ayuda. So kaya. Kaya pong bigyan ng 10K,” he added.