CIDG Clarifies Marcoleta's Visitors Amid Pneumonia Concerns

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) clarified that Sen. Rodante Marcoleta personally requested to allow Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Robin Padilla to visit him at the PNP General Hospital. The clarification came after Sandiganbayan Third Division Associate Justice Ronald Moreno questioned why Padilla and Duterte were allowed to visit Marcoleta despite the PNP’s earlier recommendation to isolate the lawmaker due to pneumonia, which is a communicable disease. Padilla visited Marcoleta on July 9, Thursday, while Duterte made her visit on July 7. According to Arles Delos Santos’ report on ONE News, Moreno pointed out that Padilla was seen leaving the hospital without wearing a mask. Moreno said the Sandiganbayan was not against those who visited Marcoleta, but was only concerned about the detained lawmaker’s health and safety. PNP Health Service General Hospital director Portia Manalad later apologized and said that it was a “lapse” on their part because they failed to advise Marcoleta’s visitors and security personnel about wearing masks. However, regarding security matters and who allowed Padilla and Duterte’s visits, Manalad pointed to the CIDG, which was assigned by the Sandiganbayan as Marcoleta’s custodian. “I don’t know with the security kasi it is with the CIDG. I’m just saying about the lapses that we forgot to say na kailangan naka-masks sila,” Manalad said. The CIDG admitted that they were indeed in charge of security and stressed that only the two — Duterte and Padilla — were allowed to visit the confined Marcoleta, and only within a limited time. “Sa dami-dami ng gustong bumisita, dalawa lang ang pinayagan at sila lang ‘yung nakapasok… Ito ay personal request ni Senator Marcoleta na gusto niyang bumisita sa kanya aside from attorneys niya,” CIDG-National Capital Region chief John Guiagui said, as reported by the Philippine News Agency. (Out of the many requests to visit him, only two were granted and allowed to enter…This is a personal request of Senator Marcoleta that he wanted them to visit him aside from his attorneys.) Marcoleta is expected to remain confined in the hospital for seven days while undergoing antibiotic treatment for mild pneumonia, and was also reportedly experiencing occasional chest pain and symptoms of hypertension. Doctors noted that he is fit to travel and appear in court, but they also advised him to finish the seven-day antibiotic treatment first. The lawmaker was arrested on July 6 on a non-bailable plunder charge in connection with the undeclared P75 million campaign donations in 2025 from former Congressman Mike Defensor and businessmen Aristotle Viray and Joseph Espiritu. Marcoleta is set to be detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Barangay Payatas, where his fellow lawmakers Sens. Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada were also jailed over alleged plunder and graft cases linked to flood control corruption.