Former lawmaker Mike Defensor and businessmen Joseph Espiritu and Aristotle Viray pleaded not guilty to plunder charges filed before the Sandiganbayan in connection with an alleged P75-million campaign donation to Senator Rodante Marcoleta during the 2025 midterm elections.

The anti-graft court’s Third Division arraigned Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray on Wednesday, July 15, after reading the charges against them. All three entered not guilty pleas to the plunder case and related gift prohibition charges.

The charges stemmed from a case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which alleged that the three accused facilitated a P75-million campaign contribution for Marcoleta that was allegedly not declared in the senator’s Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) and Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

Defensor, Espiritu, and Viray are accused of involvement in the alleged transfer of the campaign funds prior to the 2025 elections, which prosecutors claimed violated anti-graft laws.

Defensor and his co-accused have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who was also named in the case, has yet to be arraigned.