MANILA – Sen. Rodante Marcoleta remained confined at the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital on Wednesday as he underwent further medical examinations following his arrest on plunder charges, police officials said.

Doctors at the PNP General Hospital said Marcoleta was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and mild pneumonia and will undergo rehabilitation therapy while additional tests are being conducted.

PNP General Hospital chief of Internal Medicine Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani said the 72-year-old senator’s blood pressure remained unstable.

“Right now, Senator Marcoleta is okay, but his BP is higher today compared to yesterday and is 160/90. His other symptoms, like yesterday’s chest pain and then the pain, are somewhat gone, so our problem now is really with BP,” Bayani told reporters.

“160/90 is considered hypertensive stage 2. At his age (72), 160/90 is high for him, so he has symptoms like chest pain, back pain, and things like that,” she added.

Bayani said Marcoleta still has to undergo blood chemistry, a two-dimensional echocardiogram, and additional diagnostic procedures.

“Yung sa 2D echo wala pa po, yung sa X-ray niya at saka doon sa cervical spine meron na pong result, meron talagang mga findings natin doon sa chest X-ray at sa cervical spine (No 2D echo yet, the X-ray and the cervical spine already have results; we actually have findings on the chest X-ray and the cervical spine),” she said.

She also said Marcoleta is currently unfit for transport because of his medical condition.

“Not at the moment,” Bayani said when asked if the senator was fit to travel.

“I can’t say, sir, when it developed. It could be that when he was admitted to us a day ago, he already has it, or it can’t be that he is here in the hospital, he already has pneumonia because he was just admitted yesterday, so definitely not here in the hospital, maybe it was outside, maybe he already had it prior to his admission to the hospital,” she added when asked about his pneumonia.

Bayani said Marcoleta continues to take maintenance medication and is also being treated for prostatic hyperplasia.

Meanwhile, PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. confirmed that the warrant of arrest against Marcoleta was returned to the Sandiganbayan on Monday afternoon, although the senator was not physically brought before the court due to his condition.

“Nandito siya sa (he still at PNP GH) we have already returned the warrant of arrest with the information that he is under [police] custody,” Nartatez said.

PNP spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co likewise said the Sandiganbayan had already issued Marcoleta’s commitment order, but he remains under medical observation.

“The warrant of arrest of Senator Rodante Marcoleta has already been returned to the court, a commitment order has already been issued, and yun po as of now he is not yet stable yung sa status niya,” Co said.

“Most probably it is improbable that it will be today as I was informed by the Health Service na hindi pa po siya fit for travel at marami pa nga pong tests and hinihintay pa yung results naman nung tests na nagawa na sa kanya na kailangan pa pong gawin (Most probably it is improbable that it will be today as I was informed by the Health Service that he is not yet fit for travel and that there are still many tests and the results of the tests that have been done on him that still need to be done are still awaited),” he added.

Marcoleta’s wife visited him at the PNP General Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Once declared fit to travel, Marcoleta, who turns 73 on July 29, is expected to be transferred to the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas, where his co-accused in the plunder case, as well as former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, are detained.

The plunder case stemmed from Marcoleta’s admission that he received P75 million in campaign contributions that were not declared in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures. Authorities said the amount was donated by his three co-accused, including former congressman and Cabinet official Mike Defensor.