MANILA — Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was transferred to the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas on Wednesday after the Sandiganbayan Third Division ruled that there was no longer any medical basis for his continued confinement at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), clearing the way for his detention while facing a non-bailable plunder charge.
The anti-graft court ordered the transfer after PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi informed the tribunal that a panel of physicians unanimously found Marcoleta medically fit to leave the hospital.
“Unanimously agreed there is no finding or medical condition to require further hospitalization,” Legaspi told the court.
Marcoleta had earlier been transferred to PGH upon the Sandiganbayan’s order after initially being confined at the Philippine National Police General Hospital following his arrest.
He had been diagnosed with mild pneumonia, hypertension, and degenerative disc disease, but physicians from both PGH and the PNP General Hospital later declared him medically fit to stand trial.
With both government hospitals finding no medical reason for further confinement, the Sandiganbayan ordered authorities to transfer the senator to the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas.
Marcoleta, wearing a bulletproof vest and handcuffs and under heavy police escort, arrived at the Sandiganbayan in a wheelchair for his arraignment.
He is facing a non-bailable plunder case over allegations that he failed to declare P75 million in campaign donations during the 2025 elections.
During the arraignment, Marcoleta’s co-accused — former Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray — entered pleas of not guilty./PN
