Cong. Ortega Believes on Some Level of Closeness Between Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte
MARCOLETA – Representative Paolo Ortega recalled the instance when only the then-Congressman was allegedly given a “cheeseburger” brought by the office of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta is currently faced with a non-bailable plunder case and was arrested on Monday, July 6. The plunder charges against the Senator were filed by the Office of the Ombudsman due to the undeclared multi-million campaign donation.
The Office of the Ombudsman stressed that they cannot simply be silent on the “admissions” of the Senator that he received campaign donations that were not declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). The said campaign donations reportedly totals to P75 million.
During a rally organized by the members of Iglesia ni Cristo in support for him, the Senator claimed that some of his donors were his friends. According to the Senator, they wanted to be anonymous.
On Monday, the arrest of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was confirmed by Secretary of Interior and Local Government (SILG) Jonvic Remulla. According to the Interior Secretary, the Senator went to Sandiganbayan for the hearing of his motion to quash but the court denied it.
“Was he arrested or did he surrender? It was both. He went there voluntarily sa Sandiganbayan to file a motion to quash, subsequently when it was denied, we closed down the building, we arrived, we arrested him,” the SILG said.
Following his arrest, the Senator was brought to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group or CIDG for his medical examination and the taking of his mugshots. However, shortly after, he was brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital due to chest pain and high blood pressure.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta remains in PNP General Hospital now. Yesterday, it as confirmed that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte has visited Marcoleta at the hospital. Based on News5, House prosecution panel spokesperson Atty. Jay Tolosa refused to give it a color.
Based on the post, it is the prerogative of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte as she can visit whoever she wants to visit. As for Rep. Paolo Ortega, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta may be a favorite of the Vice President as he recalled the alleged previous instance when only the then-Congressman was given a “cheeseburger” by the OVP.
“May baon po na hamburger ang Office of the Vice President. May baon po silang Jollibee. Si Sen. Marcoleta lang po ang binigyan niya na congressman ng cheeseburger nun. Siguro medyo may level of closeness saka pagkakaibigan sila,” Ortega said.
The solon stressed that his remarks is not in judgement of the relationship between the Senator and the OVP but he believes that the now-detained Senator may be a “BFF” of the Vice President.
On the same day that she visited the Senator at the PNP General Hospital, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte also appeared at the Senate but not for the impeachment trial.