House prosecution panel spokesman and impeachment trial adviser Robert Ace Barbers said the impending plunder case and reported arrest warrant against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta are separate from the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Barbers issued the clarification as he rejected claims that the case against Marcoleta was part of a coordinated move to stop the senator from taking part in the impeachment proceedings.
The former Surigao del Norte representative said Marcoleta’s legal problem stemmed from matters independent of the impeachment case.
According to Barbers, the Office of the Ombudsman has already made it clear that the complaint against Marcoleta arose from the senator’s own admission that he received P75 million from three “friends” as campaign funds, which he allegedly failed to declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and Statement of Contributions and Expenditures for the May 2025 midterm elections.
“Well, nirerespeto ko yung kanyang (Marcoleta’s) opinion. In fact, karapatan niya ’yan na ganyan ang kanyang paniniwala. Kaibigan po natin ’yang si Sen. Marcoleta, pero para sa akin, personally, walang kinalaman dito sa impeachment na ito yung kasong kakaharapin niya,” Barbers said.
Barbers said the Ombudsman acted on information publicly disclosed by Marcoleta himself regarding the campaign funds he admitted receiving while he was still serving as representative of the Sagip Party-list.
He said that, based on the Ombudsman’s position, Marcoleta’s own statements prompted the anti-graft body to act, making the legal proceedings a separate matter that should be resolved independently of political developments.
“Sabi ng Office of the Ombudsman, nanggaling sa kanya ang admission o revelation. At dahil sa information na yan, umakto immediately and the government anti-graft body about it. So that’s another problem that must be resolved by Sen. Marcoleta. But this has nothing to do with the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte,” Barbers said.
Barbers stressed that linking Marcoleta’s legal predicament to Duterte’s impeachment trial would be speculative and unsupported by the facts cited by investigating authorities.
He said the Senate impeachment proceedings against Duterte should not be confused with the separate legal issues confronting individual senators.
Barbers maintained that both processes should be allowed to proceed independently and in accordance with the law.