MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine senator was arrested Monday and charged under the country's anti-corruption statutes, becoming the latest member of the upper legislative chamber to be arrested in more than a month over suspicion of large-scale graft.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who denies committing any wrongdoing, was taken into police custody at the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court in suburban Quezon city, where he went with his lawyers to question the charges and seek a delay in his arrest.
Marcoleta was accused of plunder, a charge under Philippine laws for illegally amassing huge amounts of money through a series of criminal acts. A plunder charge does not allow for bail.
“Let’s respect that,” Marcoleta, a 72-year-old lawyer, said outside the courtroom, referring to the court’s decision to order his arrest based on a preliminary finding on his case. He was later whisked away by police officers.
Marcoleta belongs to Iglesia ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, which staged a three-day rally by more than 15,000 members in a democracy shrine along metropolitan Manila’s busiest main road to protest the filing of charges against him and his impending arrest. The rally sparked a huge traffic jam.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. canceled two official engagements outside his office Tuesday due to alarm over the protest by the religious group, which known for its ability to organize huge rallies.
The Office of the Ombudsman, a special anti-graft prosecutor, said it filed the plunder charge against Marcoleta last week for receiving 75 million pesos ($1.2 million) in what were supposed to be campaign contributions from three supporters that he did not declare in his assets statement as required by law.
Two of the three donors, including former House of Representatives member Mike Defensor, also were arrested Monday, according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Early last month, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a political ally of Marcoleta, was arrested and detained also on a nonbailable charge of plunder for allegedly pocketing a huge kickback in a flood-control project.
Estrada, 63, has strongly denied allegations mainly by a former government public works engineer, that he received more than 570 million pesos ($9.3 million) in kickbacks from flood control projects.
Marcoleta and Estrada were supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. The 24-member Senate, acting as an impeachment court, was scheduled later Monday to start the trial of Sara Duterte, who was impeached by an overwhelming vote of the House of Representatives in May.
She has denied committing the alleged high crimes, including amassing undeclared wealth and publicly threatening to have the president assassinated.
A third senator and loyal ally of the Dutertes, Ronald dela Rosa, has gone into hiding after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest as a co-perpetrator of the former president in the killings of mostly poor suspects in bloody anti-drugs crackdown overseen by Duterte.
Dela Rosa was the national police chief of Duterte who first enforced the bloody crackdowns. The former president was arrested last year on orders of the ICC and flown to the Netherlands, where he will face trial on Nov. 30 for alleged crimes against humanity.
Philippine Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, center, is escorted by police at the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court as being arrested for alleged plunder, a non-bailable offense, in Quezon city, Philippines on Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Philippine Sen. Rodante Marcoleta gestures from the window of a police vehicle at the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court after being arrested for alleged plunder, a non-bailable offense, in Quezon city, Philippines on Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran began a procession Monday through its capital, Tehran, for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of his family killed Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat on board a truck. Authorities decorated the truck's side to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam.
The truck crept through crowds of black-clad mourners, who reached out to touch the grating. Some threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. Attendants sprayed misted water across the crowds to cool them in the summertime temperatures.
Authorities appeared concerned about the dangers of having a large crowd alongside the procession, with officials on loudspeakers urging the public to walk slowly, not to push and to stay to the edges of the street.
The coffins will be taken through the streets of Tehran on their way to Mehrabad International Airport over a 12-hour journey, said Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hasan Hasanzsdeh, who is overseeing the procession.
Iran's theocracy plans to see large crowds attend the ceremony across the city to show popular support for the government. Already, hundreds of thousands have gathered at squares in Tehran, waving flags and banners in Khamenei's honor.
Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday as the 86-year-old Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
The U.S. is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.
As the funeral has gone on, however, there's increasingly been threats from mourners to avenge Khamenei's death. Mourners and the signs they carry have called for the killing of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such signs were seen again Monday along the procession's route, with one effigy of Trump being hanged.
U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump's ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who had led the elite Quds Force. Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.
Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran’s civilization during the war, among other threats.
“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day," mourner Fatima Hassan said Monday morning. "We are not here to say goodbye to him, we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mourners wait in Islamic Revolution Square for the funeral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei beneath a monument depicting Khamenei's clenched fist in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A mourner reacts while holding a portrait of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as mourners gather in Islamic Revolution Square for Khamenei's funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners hold a portrait of Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, left, and portraits of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while waiting in Islamic Revolution Square for his funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A mourner wearing a shirt depicting the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeps while gathered in Islamic Revolution Square for Khamenei's funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners chant slogans while gathered in Islamic Revolution Square for the funeral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei beneath a billboard depicting Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
