{"id":91486,"date":"2026-07-06T01:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T05:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/second-philippine-senator-arrested-in-major-corruption-crackdown\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T01:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T05:34:14","slug":"second-philippine-senator-arrested-in-major-corruption-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/second-philippine-senator-arrested-in-major-corruption-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Philippine Senator Arrested in Major Corruption Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MANILA, Philippines \u2014 A Philippine senator has been placed under arrest on large-scale plunder allegations, making him the second member of the country’s upper house to be detained in just over a month amid a sweeping corruption investigation.<\/p>

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, 71, a lawyer by profession, was taken into custody Monday at the Sandiganbayan, a special court dedicated to anti-corruption cases located in suburban Quezon City. He had arrived at the court alongside his legal team to challenge the charges filed against him and to request a postponement of his arrest.<\/p>

Speaking to reporters gathered outside the courtroom, Marcoleta addressed the court’s decision to order his detention based on a preliminary review of the case. “Let’s respect that,” he said. He was subsequently escorted away by police. Because plunder is the charge against him, he is not entitled to post bail.<\/p>

Marcoleta is a member of Iglesia ni Cristo, also known as the Church of Christ. The religious organization staged a three-day demonstration involving more than 15,000 members at a democracy landmark along one of metropolitan Manila’s most heavily traveled roads, protesting both the charges against Marcoleta and his anticipated arrest. The mass gathering caused significant traffic disruptions throughout the area.<\/p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called off two scheduled public engagements outside his office on Tuesday, citing concern over the large-scale protest mounted by the religious group, which has a well-established reputation for mobilizing massive demonstrations.<\/p>

The Office of the Ombudsman, which serves as a specialized anti-corruption prosecutor, announced it filed the plunder charge against Marcoleta last week. According to the office, Marcoleta allegedly received 75 million pesos \u2014 equivalent to approximately $1.2 million \u2014 described as campaign contributions from three supporters, which he failed to report in his legally required financial disclosure statement.<\/p>

Earlier last month, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a political ally of Marcoleta, was also arrested and held on a non-bailable plunder charge. Estrada, 63, is accused of collecting more than 570 million pesos \u2014 roughly $9.3 million \u2014 in kickback payments tied to a government flood-control project. He has firmly denied those accusations, which stem primarily from allegations made by a former government public works engineer.<\/p>

Both Marcoleta and Estrada were known supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. On Monday, the 24-member Senate, sitting in its capacity as an impeachment court, was set to begin the trial of Sara Duterte, who was impeached by a sweeping vote in the House of Representatives back in May. She has denied the charges against her, which include accumulating undeclared wealth and publicly threatening to have the president killed.<\/p>

A third senator with close ties to the Duterte family, Ronald dela Rosa, has gone into hiding following the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court. The ICC named him as a co-perpetrator alongside the former president in connection with the killings of mostly low-income drug suspects during a violent anti-narcotics campaign carried out under Duterte’s watch. Dela Rosa previously served as the national police chief who initially implemented those crackdowns.<\/p>

Former President Duterte himself was arrested last year on the ICC’s orders and transported to the Netherlands, where he is scheduled to stand trial on November 30 on charges of crimes against humanity.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A second Philippine senator has been taken into custody on large-scale plunder charges, the latest in a string of high-profile arrests targeting members of the country’s upper legislative chamber. Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, a 71-year-old lawyer, was detained at a special anti-graft court after allegedly receiving undeclared campaign funds totaling $1.2 million. His arrest comes amid growing political turmoil in the Philippines, including the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":91485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[832],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-1783316054694.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-nNA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":73068,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/filipino-senator-faces-arrest-in-9-3m-infrastructure-corruption-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":91486,"position":0},"title":"Filipino Senator Faces Arrest in $9.3M Infrastructure Corruption Case","author":"Admin","date":"May 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A Philippine senator and former president's son has been indicted on corruption charges for allegedly receiving $9.3 million in kickbacks from fraudulent infrastructure projects. 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