24/09/2025
[OPINION] The Marcoleta Pattern: Three Decades of Legal Theatrics
Watching Senator Rodante Marcoleta in the Blue Ribbon hearings on flood control, I don’t see a man defending due process.
I see someone who has mastered the use of legal technicalities as a shield for allies.
On September 23, 2025, when he clashed with Ping Lacson about who gets priority in witness protection, it felt like déjà vu.
His point—that Lacson’s preference for engineer Brice Hernandez over the Discaya contractors tainted the committee’s integrity—wasn’t new.
For me, it was just the latest chapter in a decades-long pattern: attack the authority of decision-makers when they don’t align with his interests.
🟥 Early Signs: Legal Warfare in the House
This isn’t something Marcoleta suddenly discovered in the Senate.
The trail goes back to his Alagad party-list days in the House (2004–2013). When he lost to Diogenes Osabel in a COMELEC ruling over who would represent Alagad, he didn’t just appeal.
He went after the commissioners themselves, filing a disbarment case. His complaint accused them of “manifest partiality, evident bad faith, and gross inexcusable negligence.”
The Supreme Court threw it out, reminding him that the proper remedy was judicial appeal, not administrative harassment.
But that episode told me something: Marcoleta’s instinct is to attack the integrity of decision-makers themselves whenever their ruling doesn’t favor him.
It set the tone for everything that followed.
🟥 Weaponizing Witness Protection
Fast-forward to today, and I see the same tactic—just more polished. Marcoleta is pushing hard for the Discaya contractors to enter the witness protection program.
When DOJ Secretary Crispin Remulla said restitution of stolen funds could be a factor in eligibility, Marcoleta threatened him: “you may be disbarred from doing this.”
That’s the same maneuver he used against COMELEC commissioners in 2004. It’s intimidation through legal ethics complaints. And his reading of Republic Act 6981—that restitution isn’t required—works out conveniently for those accused of stealing billions.
That doesn’t sound like a fair reading of the law. It just helps his allies.
🟥 The CHR Budget Massacre (2017)
The clearest example of how Marcoleta uses legal arguments for political ends was the ₱1,000 budget stunt against the Commission on Human Rights.
On paper, it looked like a budget cut. In reality, it was an unconstitutional strike against a constitutional body tasked with monitoring government abuse.
Marcoleta justified it by claiming the CHR wasn’t valid because it was created by Cory Aquino’s executive order during the revolutionary government.
Edcel Lagman corrected him: Aquino had legislative powers at the time. Marcoleta brushed it off and bulldozed ahead.
That confidence, even in a flawed position, is part of his playbook: argue with authority and dare others to stop you.
The vote—119–32 in his favor—showed how powerful this tactic is. He managed to drag the House into endorsing an unconstitutional position simply by dressing it in procedural clothing.
🟥 ABS-CBN Franchise Denial: Legal Theater at Its Peak
If there’s one moment where Marcoleta’s methods came together, it was the ABS-CBN franchise battle.
He became the face of the denial, and his arguments followed the same formula: mix half-truths, distortions, and legal misinterpretations until doubt overwhelms facts.
The 50-year cap: He claimed ABS-CBN had operated beyond the constitutional limit. Law deans corrected him—franchises don’t accumulate across corporate transitions. He kept repeating it anyway.
Foreign ownership through PDRs: He argued PDRs violated the Constitution. The former PSE president clarified that PDRs don’t equal ownership. He ignored it and repeated the claim even years later.
Operational violations: He cited TV Plus boxes and pay-per-view as illegal. The NTC and DOJ had cleared them. He still pushed the claim.
Taxes: Even after BIR and PEZA testified to compliance, Marcoleta dismissed their findings and insisted on “tax evasion.”
That whole campaign, in my eyes, was legal distortion turned into spectacle. He didn’t back down when facts contradicted him.
He doubled down, and it worked—the franchise was killed.
🟥 House Committee Purge (2024)
His removal from five committees in 2024 told me a lot about how he sees himself. Instead of reflecting on whether he had a conflict of interest—especially when defending Sara Duterte’s OVP budget—he called it a “witchhunt.”
He demanded “courtesy” for Duterte, framing budget oversight as harassment. When he was kicked out of the Good Government Committee that was probing OVP funds, he painted himself as a victim.
To me, that victim card is another part of the Marcoleta pattern: when caught in conflict, frame it as persecution.
🟥 Procedural Tricks I’ve Noticed
Marcoleta has a bag of tricks he reuses:
He questions a chairman’s authority (like with Lacson).
He registers “continuing objections” to stall hearings.
He invokes court rules even when Senate rules don’t allow it.
He argues due process selectively—always to favor allies.
When he pushed to dismiss Sara Duterte’s impeachment complaint, he admitted Senate rules didn’t cover motions to dismiss. But he insisted “rules of court” did, and therefore should apply. That’s how he bends procedure to create exits where none exist.
🟥 The INC Factor
One detail that can’t be ignored: his alignment with Iglesia ni Cristo. From shifting to Duterte’s camp in 2016 to defending ABS-CBN’s closure, his political stances match INC’s institutional interests.
Former INC members have said that bloc voting pressures members to toe the line.
That makes his legal posturing look less like principle and more like service to an institution.
🟥 Institutional Damage Over Time
When I look at Marcoleta’s career as a whole, the damage piles up:
-Cutting CHR’s budget crippled human rights oversight.
-Killing ABS-CBN silenced a major media voice.
-Obstructing OVP budget scrutiny weakened checks and balances.
-Flood control hearings now risk being derailed by procedural fights.
He calls it due process. To me, it’s due process weaponized.
🟥 Strategic Evolution
It’s clear to me his methods evolved.
In the early 2000s, it was blunt harassment—filing disbarment cases against commissioners.
By 2017, it became constitutional misrepresentation—like with the CHR. By 2020, it was systematic disinformation—seen in ABS-CBN.
And today, it’s full-blown procedural warfare in the Senate, polished enough to look legitimate but designed to obstruct accountability.
🟥 My Conclusion: Legal Expertise Turned Against Accountability
After three decades, the pattern is impossible for me to ignore. Marcoleta transforms oversight into endless procedural battles. He casts himself as a defender of due process while using legal theater to protect allies.
From COMELEC to CHR to ABS-CBN to Sara Duterte, and now to the Discayas, the moves are the same: attack the process, question authority, invoke higher law, and shield the powerful.
What I see isn’t law serving the people. It’s law bent to protect his circle.
🟥 SOURCES:
1. Philstar – House gives CHR a P1,000 budget
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/12/1738419/house-gives-chr-p1000-budget
2. ABS-CBN News – 'You may be disbarred from doing this': Marcoleta, Remulla
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/23/marcoleta-warns-remulla-of-possible-disbarment-in-restitution-row-1057
3. Reddit – Voting for Rodante Marcoleta (INC) is a vote for Eduardo V. Manalo
https://www.reddit.com/r/exIglesiaNiCristo/comments/1jyr4b4/voting_for_rodante_marcoleta_inc_is_a_vote_for/
4. Reddit – Why should Filipinos be concerned that Rodante Marcoleta (INC)...
https://www.reddit.com/r/exIglesiaNiCristo/comments/1jw1jd2/why_should_filipinos_be_concerned_that_rodante/
5. ABS-CBN News – House votes for only P1,000-budget for CHR
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/09/12/17/house-votes-for-only-p1000-budget-for-chr
6. Inquirer – House gives Commission on Human Rights P1,000 budget for 2018
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/930106/house-budget-deliberations-chr-p1000-budget-speaker-alvarez
7. Philstar – Who moved to give CHR budget P1,000?
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/13/1738719/who-moved-give-chr-budget-p1000
8. Inquirer – House leader accuses ABS-CBN of violating Constitution
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1281185/house-leader-accuses-abs-cbn-of-violating-franchise-law-constitution
9. Philippine News Agency – ABS-CBN didn't comply with franchise terms, laws
https://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1103988
10. Vera Files – Fact check: Marcoleta repeats false claims about ABS-CBN
https://verafiles.org/articles/vera-files-fact-check-marcoleta-repeats-false-claims-about-abs-cbn
11. ABS-CBN News – Marcoleta blasts Sotto for rejecting witness protection
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2025/9/15/marcoleta-blasts-sotto-for-rejecting-immunity-for-discayas-1759
12. Philstar – Senators clash over motion to dismiss Sara Duterte's impeach trial
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/08/06/2463578/senators-clash-over-motion-dismiss-sara-dutertes-impeach-trial
13. Inquirer – Marcoleta expelled from 5 House panels
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1987777/marcoleta-expelled-from-5-house-panels
14. Politiko – Marcoleta links committee membership removal to impeach Sara Duterte plan
https://politiko.com.ph/2024/10/03/marcoleta-links-committee-membership-removal-to-impeach-sara-duterte-plan/headlines/
15. ABS-CBN News – Marcoleta says Discayas need not return money to become state witnesses
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/15/marcoleta-says-discayas-need-not-return-money-to-become-state-witnesses-1137
16. GMA News – Tension sparks between Lacson, Marcoleta over state witnesses plea
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/960003/tension-sparks-between-lacson-marcoleta-over-state-witnesses-plea/story/
17. ABS-CBN News – Lacson, Marcoleta clash over 'integrity' of Blue Ribbon probe
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/23/-away-kaagad-tayo-lacson-marcoleta-clash-over-integrity-of-blue-ribbon-probe-0947
18. Supreme Court Decision – Marcoleta's complaint vs. COMELEC commissioners
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/47142
19. Supreme Court Decision – G.R. No. 181377, Marcoleta v. Osabel
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/49105
20. Wikipedia – Rodante Marcoleta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodante_Marcoleta
Photo Credit: Rappler
