Rodante Marcoleta

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Rodante Dizon Marcoleta is a Filipino television host, lawyer, and politician who has been a senator since 2025. Before joining the Senate, he represented Alagad Party-List in the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2013 and later SAGIP (Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty) from 2016 to 2025. He is noted for being the first elected Philippine senator affiliated with the Iglesia ni Cristo.

Early life and education
Marcoleta was born on July 29, 1953, in Paniqui, Tarlac. He comes from a farming family and is the second of nine siblings. He earned a law degree from San Sebastian College and later completed an MBA at the University of the East. He also earned a Doctor of Public Administration from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2020 and completed a development leadership program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Political career highlights
- House of Representatives: Marcoleta started in the House in 2004 as part of the Alagad Party-List, serving until 2013. He later represented SAGIP from 2016 to 2025. In the House, he chaired the Poverty Alleviation Committee in 2009 and the Special Committee on Globalization and the WTO in 2018, among other leadership roles. He was known for supporting a broad range of bills and for backing the first impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2005.
- Controversies in the House: In the mid-2010s, audits and investigations linked to pork-barrel funding questioned his use of development funds, including cases cited by the Commission on Audit (COA) involving funds going to dubious NGOs (notably during his Alagad years, and later in 2014-2009 reviews).
- ABS-CBN and other stances: Marcoleta was a vocal critic of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal and was one of the representatives who voted to deny it. He also supported a 2019 measure known as the Magna Carta of the Poor, which Duterte signed in 2019.
- 2024 committee removals: In September 2024, he was removed from some House committees and later expelled from five more committees for opposing investigations into the use of funds by Vice President Sara Duterte. He was replaced by another representative.
- Move to the Senate (2025): In 2025, Marcoleta ran as an independent candidate in the Senate election and joined the DuterTen slate. He won the sixth-most votes and began his Senate term on June 30, 2025. He was appointed as Senate deputy majority floor leader and headed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which investigated flood-control project funding.
- Later developments in the Senate: After Tito Sotto became Senate President in September 2025, Marcoleta was reassigned to the Senate’s minority leadership as deputy minority floor leader.

Other notable actions and statements
- In 2025, he led inquiries into flood-control projects, where allegations emerged about misused public funds and favored contractors.
- In late 2025, election watchdog groups filed a perjury complaint against him for failing to disclose campaign donations from the May 2025 elections.
- In 2026, he drew attention for a comment at a hearing about the West Philippine Sea, which he later backtracked on after receiving criticism. He also voiced opinions about transparency and the country’s maritime disputes in relation to alliances.

Personal life
Marcoleta is married to Edna Magbitang of Anao, Tarlac, and they have three children, including Paolo Marcoleta, who has served as president of SAGIP. His wife has worked as an independent director for Stronghold Insurance since 2024. He is a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo and has hosted Net 25 public affairs programs, including Sa Ganang Mamamayan and Sagip Barangay ng Mamamayan in Action.