MANILA — Detained senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta have retained influential roles in the Senate after being appointed to head key committees despite facing separate plunder cases, with Senate leaders insisting that incarceration does not strip them of their legislative rights.
As part of the Senate’s reorganization for the 20th Congress, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian named Estrada chairman of the Committee on Electoral Reforms and Marcoleta chairman of the Committee on Tourism, underscoring the chamber’s position that both remain entitled to committee leadership while their cases are pending.
The Committee on Electoral Reforms was previously chaired by Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who relinquished the post after assuming the chairmanship of the Committee on Public Works.
“I give it up [for Senator Jinggoy],” Sotto said. “It is a rule in the Senate that aside from the Office of the Senator, each senator needs to have a committee. The committee budget is where the senator’s employees draw their salaries.”
Gatchalian echoed the same position, saying Estrada and Marcoleta continue to enjoy the rights and responsibilities of elected senators despite their detention.
“He is still a senator and a member of the Senate minority, so members of the minority will still be given committees,” Gatchalian said of Estrada.
“There is also a vice chairperson who can run the committee. In that sense, the vice chairperson will run the committee,” he added.
Estrada has been detained at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas since June after the Sandiganbayan ordered his arrest over a non-bailable plunder case alleging he received P573 million in kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects. He has denied the accusations.
Marcoleta, meanwhile, has been in custody since July 6 after the anti-graft court found probable cause to try him for plunder over allegations that he accepted P75 million in illegal campaign contributions during the 2025 senatorial elections. He has likewise denied the charges.
The Senate also designated Sen. Imee Marcos as deputy minority leader during the chamber’s reorganization.
Other committee assignments approved by the Senate include Mark Villar for Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies; Robinhood Padilla for Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs and Public Information and Mass Media; Loren Legarda for Culture and the Arts, and Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; Pia Cayetano for Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking; Camille Villar for Government Corporations and Public Enterprises; Bong Go for Sports and Youth; and Imee Marcos for Cooperatives.
Meanwhile, it remained uncertain whether Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who has largely stayed out of public view amid reports of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, would also be assigned a committee chairmanship./PN
