The Sandiganbayan has issued a precautionary hold departure order against Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Mike Defensor, and two businessmen, banning them from leaving the country while they face a plunder investigation.
The travel restriction, granted by the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division, comes at the request of the Office of the Ombudsman. Also included in the order are businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray. All four respondents are currently under a preliminary investigation concerning a ₱75 million campaign donation allegedly made in 2025.
The respondents face accusations of plunder, three counts of indirect bribery, and violations of a presidential decree that bans public officials from accepting gifts. Alongside the travel ban, the Sandiganbayan has ordered the group to submit their counter-affidavits to the Ombudsman.
The criminal investigation developed from a prior Commission on Elections review into Marcoleta’s alleged failure to declare the multi-million peso donation in his official campaign finance report.
While the poll body ultimately dropped the election-related aspect of the case—ruling that the nondisclosure was decriminalized under recent amendments to the Omnibus Election Code—the Ombudsman launched its own independent probe to assess potential criminal liability.
Defending himself on the Senate floor on Monday night, Marcoleta utilized a privilege speech to reject the accusations, labeling them as politically motivated fabrications.
“If the intention of these cases is to silence me, let me say this at the beginning: It has failed. I will not be silenced,” he said.