AN ELECTION offense case is being eyed against Senator Rodante Marcoleta after he allegedly misdeclared the absence of campaign contributors in his statement of contributions and expenditures (Soce) during the May 2025 polls.
In a seven-page complaint-affidavit filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, December 5, 2025, Kontra Daya lead convener Danilo Arao and the Advocates of Public Interest Law accused Marcoleta of violating provisions of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), specifically Sections 98 and 107.
"We filed complaints against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta today (December 5) because of his willful and deliberate falsehood in filling out the Statement of Contributions and Expenditures," Arao said in a statement.
"This is not just a violation of the law but also of ethics as a public official. Marcoleta should be held accountable," he added.
Section 98 of the OEC provides that no person should make any contribution in any name except his own, nor should any candidate record the same in any name other than that of the person by whom it was actually made.
Section 107, meanwhile, states that every candidate should file a full, true, and itemized Soce in relation to the elections.
"Accordingly, there is probable cause to believe that Respondent committed an election offense when he knowingly omitted the names of his campaign donors and willfully misrepresented that he had received no contributions," the complaint said.
"By publicly admitting that he received contributions but deliberately reported them as zero in his Soce, Respondent knowingly violated Sections 98 and 107 of the OEC. These provisions constitute an election offense," it added.
In his Soce, Marcoleta reported that he received P0 in contributions while spending P112,857,951.44 during the May 2025 polls.
However, questions have been raised on how Marcoleta was able to spend P112.85 million when his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) showed a net worth of P51.9 million.
The senator explained that his friends donated funds for his 2025 campaign.
However, Marcoleta said he intentionally did not declare the donations to honor his donors’ request to remain anonymous. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)