Ombudsman Witness Admits No Evidence Marcoleta’s Donors Met or Communicated

An investigator from the Office of the Ombudsman testified in court that authorities found no evidence the three businessmen accused of giving Sen. Rodante Marcoleta a combined ₱75 million had ever met or communicated with one another.

Maria Melinda Mananghaya-Henson, director of the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Bureau, made the admission during the September 14 bail hearing for Marcoleta and his co-accused, businessmen Mike Defensor, Joseph Espiritu, and Aristotle Viray.

Under questioning from Viray’s lawyer, Chris Ocampo, Mananghaya-Henson said she had no information that the three donors had ever met and could not point to any evidence of communication among them — apart from the fact that their individual deeds of donation were notarized on the same date and at the same location.

She also confirmed that Viray was not mentioned in a video of Marcoleta that prosecutors had presented as evidence, and acknowledged that neither that video nor the original fact-finding investigation used the word "investment" — a term she said investigators themselves introduced later. Mananghaya-Henson said the three donors were not interviewed during the fact-finding stage, which she described as confidential.

The case centers on notarized deeds showing Defensor donated ₱30 million, Espiritu ₱25 million, and Viray ₱20 million in January 2025, in what prosecutors say was support for Marcoleta’s expected Senate candidacy ahead of the 2025 elections. Marcoleta has separately posted bail on related charges of accepting undisclosed gifts as a public official, but remains detained while the bail petition on the non-bailable plunder charge itself continues to be heard.