Marcoleta faces perjury raps before Ombudsman over campaign donations

[Updated Dec. 5, 2025, 7:38 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Rodante Marcoleta is facing a perjury complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman for reportedly publicly acknowledging that he received P112 million in campaign donations during a televised interview, while declaring zero contributions in his 2025 campaign finance report.

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya, represented by Dr. Danilo Arao, along with representatives of Advocates for Public Interest Law, Atty. Dino de Leon and Alex Lacson lodged the complaint against Marcoleta on Friday.

READ: Comelec may summon Marcoleta over Soce

In a 15-page complaint, the groups pointed out that Marcoleta’s actions, specifically his admission of receiving the campaign funds during the November 7 broadcast of Sa Ganang Mamamayan, “constitute perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.”  

Under Article 183, perjury occurs when a person makes a statement under oath on a material matter, before a competent officer, with willful and deliberate falsity, and where the statement is required by law for a legal purpose. 

The penalty for perjury under Article 183 ranges from six months in jail (maximum term of arresto mayor) to two years and four months imprisonment (minimum term of prision correccional).

The complaint also cited Marcoleta’s broadcast statements, in which he admitted deliberately avoiding the disclosure of donors’ identities, as direct evidence of intentional falsehood.

Inquirer sought the side of Marcoleta’s office regarding the matter, but it has yet to reply as of posting time. 

“By his own admission, respondent (Marcoleta) publicly acknowledged receiving campaign contributions for the May 12, 2025 senatorial elections, but deliberately declared zero contributions in his sworn Soce,” the complaint said.

Marcoleta’s admission would then constitute perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code, according to the complainants, penalizing any person who has taken an oath but “willfully and deliberately asserts a falsehood upon a material matter.”

The complainants also pointed out that Marcoleta, as a lawyer and a long-time public official, should know that contributions and donor identities are considered as facts that “must be truthfully stated under oath.”

“His professional background forecloses any claim of confusion or inadvertence,” the complaint also said.

The complainants cited a portion of Marcoleta’s interview last Nov. 7 wherein he said in Filipino: “I will be forced to make it zero. Because if I put an amount, I will be compelled to disclose one by one, including the identity.”

“This admission shows that he consciously chose to declare zero contributions precisely to avoid disclosing his donors, despite knowing that the law required him to do so,” the complainants said.

“As a lawyer, he (Marcoleta) knew the legal consequences of submitting a false sworn statement, but he nonetheless elected to misrepresent his contributions to shield his donors from being identified,” they also said in their complaint. /mr