SENATE Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday said the looming non-bailable plunder case against Senator Rodante Marcoleta is “nonsense” and only meant to create a “chilling effect” on those actively fighting to expose the truth behind the billion-peso flood control scam.
Cayetano made the remark in an ambush interview on June 30, 2026, when he joined the protest of over 10,000 Filipinos along EDSA to push back against law-bending, selective justice, and large-scale corruption in the government.
“Malinaw po sa akin na yung ginagawang ito ay panggigipit at injustice. Lutang na lutang na ito’y may kasamang chilling effect sa lahat ng tutuligsa sa gobyerno,” he said.
Marcoleta, who is part of the Senate Minority Bloc, is facing possible non-bailable plunder and indirect bribery charges that the Office of the Ombudsman said it is set to file before the Sandiganbayan over alleged campaign donations worth P75 million.
Marcoleta had led the Senate’s investigation into the flood control scam when he was chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee under then-Senate President Francis Escudero. He was later replaced by Senator Panfilo Lacson, who claimed last May that the committee found “no mastermind” behind the billion-peso corruption.
Cayetano said the case against Marcoleta is “nonsense,” adding that the ongoing debate over whether the case fits the parameters of the plunder law is exactly what the administration wants the public to do so that attention is diverted away from the “bigger picture.”
He said the same pattern was seen in the May 13, 2026 incident involving armed National Bureau of Investigation personnel in the Senate, when the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government focused on smaller details instead of addressing the real issue of Senate independence.
“There’s a bigger picture, which is the numbers in the Senate,” he said. “Whether ang pag-uusapan natin ay majority ng Senate, two-thirds sa impeachment, or Charter Change, may implikasyon po ito (case versus Marcoleta).”
The Senate is set to begin the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on July 6, with the attendance and votes of senators directly affecting the proceedings.
Cayetano said the Minority Bloc had already expected more legal pressure from the administration after Senator Jinggoy Estrada was detained, noting that attempts to use cases against them started even before he became Senate President.
“Hindi lang naman si Senator Marcoleta, napakarami nang pinopormahan na ganito,” he said, intimating that he and the Minority Bloc had first received word on February 4 that if they became the Majority, the administration would use cases against them as leverage.
“Nung ako na umupo [bilang Senate President] at willing silang ipadala ang NBI na armado, not just once but twice sa Senado, tapos n’ung kitang-kita paano kinulong si Jinggoy, naging reality na sa amin ’to,” he added.
Cayetano said despite all this, the Minority will continue its fight against corruption and against the abuse of the country’s justice system.
“Lahat kami, we’re on borrowed time pero ipinasa-Diyos namin,” he said. “We continue to fight in various ways. Sabi ko nga, sa (pamamagitan ng) pinaka-simple pero pinaka-effective na prayer, pag-aaral, paghahanda, pag-e-expose, pagre-research.”
“Lahat ng Pilipino ay dapat lumaban para sa hustisya at dapat labanan ang injustice,” he added.
