{"id":20680,"date":"2026-07-07T03:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/?p=20680"},"modified":"2026-07-07T03:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:06:39","slug":"defensor-2-other-businessmen-in-marcoleta-donation-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/2026\/07\/07\/defensor-2-other-businessmen-in-marcoleta-donation-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"DEFENSOR, 2 OTHER BUSINESSMEN IN MARCOLETA DONATION ARRESTED"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORMER lawmaker Mike Defensor and two businessmen who are co-accused in the P75-million plunder case of Senator Rodante Marcoleta on Monday were arrested by the authorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla said \u00a0Defensor and businessman Joseph Espiritu were arrested in a coffee shop in Quezon City.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two were caught after the arrest warrants against them were issued by the Sandiganbayan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another co-accused, Aristotle Viray was arrested on Monday night<\/strong> by operatives of the Philippine National Police- Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) at a gasoline station along Boni Serrano Avenue in Quezon City.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Defensor, Espiritu and Viray were the ones who donated the P75 million alleged campaign donation\u00a0 to Marcoleta.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Marcoleta also on Monday surrendered to the CIDG men and was subsequently placed under arrest, according to Remulla.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The four were subjected to a booking process, including the taking of mug shots and a medical examination.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Defensor and the two businessmen are now detained at the Quezon City Jail in Bgy. Payatas.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Marcoleta was brought to the PNP hospital after experiencing chest pains and high blood pressure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

R<\/strong>emulla said: \u00a0Marcoleta’s doctor “advised that we get ECG (electrocardiogram) and several other tests,” noting that it would not take more than a day or two to complete the orders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said the medical examination will check the 72-year-old Marcoleta’s “blood markers” as well as his heart and kidney function.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“We don’t want to take the responsibility na may mangyari sa kanya sa loob, so sisiguraduhin na siya ay in good health,” Remulla said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORMER lawmaker Mike Defensor and two businessmen who are co-accused in the P75-million plunder case of Senator Rodante Marcoleta on Monday were arrested by the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor.jpg",1033,614,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-300x178.jpg",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-768x456.jpg",640,380,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-1024x609.jpg",640,381,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor.jpg",1033,614,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor.jpg",1033,614,false],"kreeti-slider-full":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor.jpg",1033,614,false],"kreeti-featured":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-1024x609.jpg",1024,609,true],"kreeti-medium":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-720x530.jpg",720,530,true],"kreeti-medium-square":["https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mike-defensor-350x350.jpg",350,350,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"National<\/a>","tag_info":"National","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20682,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions\/20682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}