by Diego Morra
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta is now right smack between Scylla and Carybdis as he faces possible investigation by the Senate and the Commission on Elections, all because of his admission in a show on Net 25, which is owned and operated by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), that he had received P112-million in campaign contributions for his 2025 senatorial campaign.
Ranged against his official Statement of Contributions and Expenses (SOCE) filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Marcoleta’s statement contradicted what his Comelec filing disclosed. In his SOCE, he claimed that he had not received a single centavo in contributions. His SOCE would now be debunked by his own admission against self-interest, or he can work the other way around and say that his Net 25 statement was some kind of locker talk. Either way, he loses, the way other garrulous chaps tend to spout statements that are apocryphal, or disgorge statements tongue-in-cheek. He can just say, my bad! ‘Twas just a joke.
But then, remember the Tagalog proverb: Ang isda laging nahuhuli sa bunganga. Or just remember the 1966 Miranda Rights, the set of warnings by US cops before questioning, including the right to remain silent, the right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment. Anything that a suspect says can be used against him in a court of law. Marcoleta was not under duress when he stated that he received P112 million in campaign contributions contrary to what he had written in his SOCE. He will now choose to stand by his Net 25 statement and repudiate his SOCE or reaffirm his SOCE and repudiate his Net 25 statement. Either way, he gets hurt by his lagaring Hapon.
Why did Marcoleta, who prides himself as an intelligent lawyer, act in such a clumsy, irrational and puerile fashion? Now, Kontra Daya, an election watchdog led by UP Prof. Danilo Arao, and the Advocates of Public Interest Law (APIL), are putting Marcoleta to task for what they deem to be a case of perjury since the SOCE is a sworn statement, with Marcoleta attesting that everything contained in that form is true. Arao and APIL have submitted a formal letter to the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges urging it to investigate Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s “willful and deliberate” falsehood on his SOCE.
“As members of the public who believe deeply in the importance of ethical leadership, we urge the committee to look into Marcoleta’s recent admission […] that he lied under oath in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE),” they said. “This raises serious questions about compliance with election laws and the standards of conduct expected of a Member of the Senate of the Philippines,” the letter read. The signatories are Prof. Danilo Arao, Atty. Dino de Leon and Atty. Alex Lacson. “We urge the Senate to act decisively. Such utter disregard for transparency and accountability should not happen again as the 2028 polls roll around,” said Arao, the convenor of Kontra Daya.
Marcoleta, who headed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee until he was replaced after Senate President Chiz Escudero was booted out, had earlier clashed with Sen. Ping Lacson and Senate President Tito Sotto not only on questions of procedure but on the serious issue about the conduct of the questioning of resource person Orly Guteza, whose affidavit was shredded by the lawyer who supposedly notarized it, testifying that she never notarized the document of Guteza. A Manila court sustained the lawyer and destroyed the credibility of Guteza, who was produced by former Rep. Mike Defensor, who was roundly criticized for his half-baked defense of unlamented ex-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the “Hello, Garci” inquiry.
The greenhorn Marcoleta was also savaged for his questioning of the Discaya couple in the Senate inquiry into the anomalous flood control projects (FCP), with Marcoleta’s wife found to be working for Stronghold Insurance, a suki of Discaya corporations. When he was still a member of the House of Representatives, Marcoleta also participated in the investigation into the financial shenanigans of Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio even when he was not a member of any of the four committees undertaking the probe and clashed with a congressman. Talk of propriety and decorum. For this, he was twitted by Congress wags as another congressional insertion.
At the Comelec, the issue of deliberate prevarication in the SOCE could immediately require the ouster of Marcoleta. Imagine fooling the entire collegial body in one fell swoop. As the Good Book says, the wages of sin is death. In his case, it means political death. Comelec has been disqualifying lesser officials over residency issues, citizenship and SOCE discrepancies, misrepresentation and outright lies. As Arao and de Leon argued, the Comelec can easily look into the caper, examine the tapes of Net 25 and determine forthwith that the greenhorn senator tried to pull the wool over the eyes of poll commissioners. That is a cardinal sin and Marcoleta is not exempt from sanctions and the appropriate penalty, which is ouster from the Senate.
