The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday, May 26, urged the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division to bar Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Mike Defensor, and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray from leaving the country, citing their vast financial capacity and political influence.
Testifying during a hearing for a Precautionary Hold Departure Order (PHDO), OMB Luzon Field Investigation Bureau Director Maria Melinda Mananghaya-Henson argued that the respondents pose a significant flight risk.
The travel ban request stems from allegations of plunder, indirect bribery, and violations of Presidential Decree No. 46, which bans public officials from receiving gifts.
“Our basis for saying he’s a flight risk is that respondent possesses the sufficient influence as a senator. The respondent also has economic resources to do so,” Mananghaya-Henson told the anti-graft court. “The respondent actually has the tendency to conceal and evade liability as in fact in his statements of expenses and statements of assets and liabilities, he did not declare the ₱75 million.”
The case originated from a December 2025 complaint filed by Danilo Arao. Mananghaya-Henson clarified that the OMB’s probe proceeded independently of the Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC) prior dismissal of related election offenses, explaining that the poll body handled a separate matter.
According to OMB investigators, Marcoleta allegedly received a “manifestly excessive” ₱75 million from three individuals in January 2025 while serving as a sitting lawmaker.
Mananghaya-Henson noted that a congressman earning roughly ₱299,000 a month would take 20 years to accumulate that amount, yet the sum was omitted from Marcoleta’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
“Our basis is that in the proceedings before the Commission on Election (COMELEC) and in submitting his SALN, he actually concealed,” Mananghaya-Henson testified. “And the concealment itself is an indication for us that respondent will be evading liability.”
The anti-graft body has completed its fact-finding investigation and recommended filing formal plunder charges. The three private donors were included in the complaint as alleged conspirators due to their financial capability and suspicious tax filings.
“We included the donors because we consider these three are actually conspirators of Marcoleta,” the witness explained. “First, they have the financial capacity, having been able to give out millions of pesos to Marcoleta.”
“Also, we consider them as conspirators in the concealment of the crime which was committed because these three private individuals belatedly filed the donor’s tax return in order to conceal the illegality of the gifts given if they know that the donor’s tax returns is actually filed almost one year after the donations were given,” Mananghaya-Henson added. “And therefore, it was not in compliance with the law already.”
The OMB has already subpoenaed Marcoleta’s travel records but has yet to receive a response. The Sandiganbayan has deferred its ruling on the travel ban application.