Former lawmaker Mike Defensor and two co-accused, businessman Joseph Espiritu and businessman Aristotle Viray, plead not guilty to a plunder case before the Sandiganbayan Third Division. The charges relate to allegations that Defensor and the two businessmen donated P75 million to Senator Rodante Marcoleta when he was still an incumbent congressman. Marcoleta is also included among the accused and is detained at the New Quezon City jail male dormitory, along with Defensor and the other co-accused. In one report, Defensor and his co-accused state they will not file a petition for bail because the plunder case is non-bailable. The cases proceed in the anti-graft court, where the accused entered their pleas. Marcoleta, meanwhile, has not yet been arraigned, according to one report, due to a pending motion to quash or a bid to junk his plunder case. The reports describe the proceedings as continuing before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, with the defendants maintaining their not guilty pleas.