Former AnaKalusugan Party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and businessman Joseph Espiritu were arrested in Quezon City on Monday in connection with a plunder case pending before the Sandiganbayan.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla announced the arrests hours after authorities took Sen. Rodante Marcoleta into custody in relation to the same case.
Defensor and Espiritu were apprehended by operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group–National Capital Region (CIDG-NCR) while having coffee at a coffee shop along Timog Avenue in Quezon City.
Remulla said the two were immediately brought to the Sandiganbayan after their arrest.
The plunder case against Defensor was filed by the Office of the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan and was raffled to the anti-graft court’s Third Division on Friday.
The case stemmed from the alleged P75-million campaign donation made by Defensor, Aristotle Viray, and Espiritu to Marcoleta when he was still a congressman before his 2025 Senate bid.
Authorities are continuing efforts to locate Viray, who remains at large.
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