Comelec: Marcoleta didn't commit election offense

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March 18, 2026 | 5:18pm

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Wednesday, March 18, cleared Sen. Rodante Marcoleta of any possible election offenses, but maintained that he was not able to comply with a section of the Omnibus Election Code. 

Marcoleta had been under moto proprio investigation for allegedly failing to disclose all of his campaign donors in his statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) during the midterm elections. 

The Comelec probed Marcoleta after he admitted that he did not disclose all of the election contributions in his SOCE, as per the request of his contributors. 

Marcoleta was told to explain this confession. Through his counsel, Marcoleta said that he received the P75 million in campaign contributions from three individuals well before the official campaign period. 

Since he was not considered a candidate at the time, Marcoleta’s party reasoned that the money he received was not a campaign donation. 

In their decision, the Comelec en banc cleared Marcoleta of any wrongdoing, approving their Political Finance And Affairs Department’s (PFAD) recommendation to “to terminate the investigation as there being no other evidence to show that Respondent committed any election offense.” 

However, the Comelec en banc did recommend that the PFAD file election offenses before Marcoleta’s campaign donors: Michael Tan Defensor, Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray “due to their failure to submit their respective individual Report of Contributions within 30 days after the elections.” 

Much like Marcoleta, Defensor is a former lawmaker and a staunch supporter of former president Rodrigo Duterte.