Isolation with visit?: Sandiganbayan questions why Marcoleta received visitors despite pneumonia isolation recommendation

The Sandiganbayan Third Division on Friday, July 10, questioned why Senator Rodante Marcoleta was allowed to receive visitors at the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital despite doctors recommending that he be isolated after being diagnosed with mild pneumonia. During the hearing on the compliance reports regarding Marcoleta’s hospitalization and custody, Associate Justice Ronald Moreno raised concerns after learning that the senator had been visited by Senator Robin Padilla and, separately, by Vice President Sara Duterte while confined at the PNP hospital. Moreno said he became concerned after seeing footage of Padilla visiting Marcoleta inside the hospital and noted reports that Vice President Duterte had likewise visited the senator. He stressed that the issue involved not only Marcoleta’s security but also his health, saying that if the senator indeed has pneumonia, visits should have been restricted in accordance with medical advice. Moreno then asked who had the authority to allow or prohibit visitors for a patient under PNP custody. Police Brigadier General Portia Manalad, the director of the PNP Health Service, explained that security matters are handled by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and PNP headquarters, while medical concerns fall under the Health Service. “For security reasons, sir, it would be the CIDG to decide. For the perimeter security, it would be the headquarters. And for the health issue, it would be the PNP Health Service,” Manalad told the anti-graft court. Manalad said that decisions on whether to allow or prohibit visitors for medical reasons fall under the discretion of the PNP Health Service. The director of the PNP Health Service admitted to the Sandiganbayan that there had been a lapse when asked why visitors had still been allowed to see Marcoleta despite the isolation recommendation. “I apologize. I believe it was a lapse on our part, and it wouldn’t happen again,” said Manalad. During an ambush interview, she clarified: I’m just saying about we forgot to say na kailangan naka mask sila because of the condition of the senator. ‘Yun lang ang hiningan ko mag-apologize dahil ‘yun lang ang covered ko (I’m just saying that we forgot to require them to wear masks because of the senator’s condition. That’s the only thing I apologized for, because that’s the only matter I’m responsible).” She agreed that stricter medical protocols should have been implemented to prevent visitors from seeing Marcoleta. The anti-graft court earlier ordered Marcoleta’s commitment to the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas, but the transfer has yet to be implemented because he remains hospitalized at the PNP General Hospital under the custody of the PNP-CIDG. On July 3, the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) filed before the Sandiganbayan a plunder case, a non-bailable offense, against Marcoleta over the alleged P75 million in undeclared donations he received while he was still serving as a congressman, along with three separate criminal cases for violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 46, or the anti-gift law, against the senator and his alleged donors.