THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, September 7, 2026, expressed readiness to reopen the case of Senator Rodante Marcoleta and his supposed misdeclaration in his statement of contributions and expenditures (Soce) for the 2025 midterm polls.
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they are open to such a possibility after no less than Marcoleta argued that the matter regarding the P75 million campaign donation should be under the jurisdiction of the Commission, and not the Sandiganbayan.
"As for the jurisdiction of other agencies, they are the ones who can answer that. If it is returned to us, there is no problem. Comelec will still exercise its jurisdiction," said Garcia.
He, however, hinted at the Comelec will likely make a similar conclusion with regards to Marcoleta's case.
The poll chief said this is because they have already completed their evaluation of the same case.
"We have already performed our duty and exercised our jurisdiction. As far as we are concerned, we are done with our jurisdiction," said Garcia.
Marcoleta is currently facing a plunder case at the Sandiganbayan over the P75 million undeclared campaign donation.
This comes after the Comelec en banc had ordered the termination of the probe concerning the alleged misdeclaration of Marcoleta in his SOCE saying Republic Act 7166 no longer considers such a violation as being tantamount to an election offense.
This was despite the Comelec - Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD) finding that Marcoleta failed to fully disclose the campaign contributions he received relative to the May 2025 polls.
On the other hand, the Commission had ordered the PFAD to file a complaint against the three contributors of Marcoleta for possible election offense cases.
The three, who donated a total of P75 million, were identified as Michael Tan Defensor, Joseph Varias Espiritu, and Aristotle Baluyut Viray.
In a related development, the poll body admitted that it has yet to slap an administrative fine against the lawmaker.
Garcia bared that they have yet to impose an administrative fine against Marcoleta as the case against his three campaign contributors remain unresolved.
"We are still determining the administrative fine. But we need to finalize the determination of the case regarding the contributors first. It isn't finished yet as criminal proceedings against them are still ongoing," he said.
"Administrative liability can only be established once the criminal determination concerning the donors is concluded," Garcia added. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
