Co wants to overthrow administration – Rep. Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — With his allegations that were “as fantastical as they are false,” fugitive congressman Zaldy Co was trying to destabilize the government in a bid to escape punishment for his crimes, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos said yesterday.

In his latest video posted on his social media page, Co claimed the young Marcos orchestrated budget insertions amounting to P9.636 billion in 2023, P20.174 billion in 2024 and P21.127 billion in 2025.

“Anyone can sit in front of a camera from abroad and spew lies,” Marcos said, describing his former colleague as “the newly crowned champion of the DDS cabal.”

He said Co’s allegations were meant to foment unrest among Filipinos.

“I hope that the public can be reminded that we are talking of a person with no credibility whose vested interests are to release these videos to destabilize the government. This is someone who our kababayans know to be the architect of this mess, yet continues to insult their intelligence by saying wala siyang nakuha (he didn’t get anything),” Marcos added.

The majority leader, according to Co, would always demand insertions during deliberations by the bicameral conference committee.

“All in all, the total is P50.938 billion. And each year, every time that the bicam budget process came, Congressman Sandro always has an order to insert his projects,” Co said in his video.

“I just learned from the contractor that he was very angry at me when the 2025 GAA budget is being discussed. According to them, he said he will have me removed and he will file many cases against me because the insertion that he wants was short of P8 billion,” Co said.

“The reason, according to him, was there were contractors who got an advance from him and since the entire amount was not inserted, he has to return those,” Co added.

Marcos said Co was apparently resorting to political chaos to escape his own legal troubles. “He wants to overthrow the present administration to absolve himself for his crimes,” Marcos said.

“In fact, the intel suggests  he already struck a deal with those who stand to benefit from such a change,” he added.

The Ilocos Norte lawmaker also reminded Co that the House of Representatives is a collegial body which makes decisions through elections.

“Zaldy Co was removed as appropriations chairman because members caught wind of his insatiable greed and corruption. Not because of the whim of any individual. The sagasa that he orchestrated in certain districts such as Bulacan and other municipalities speak for themselves,” Marcos said.

“To my countrymen, Zaldy Co is not a journalist or a truth crusader. He is a criminal who is evading justice. Let us not allow ourselves to be fooled by him. It is a revelation. It is a destabilization,” Marcos said.

Angry Sandro

In his video, Co claimed the presidential son became very angry at him at one point because the flood control fund insertions were P8 billion short.

“All in all, the sum total is P50.938 billion. And every year whenever the bicameral conference committee is convened during the budget process, he (Sandro) always gives instructions for us to prioritize all his projects,” said Co, who is a known contractor even during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband first gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Zaldy insisted he himself received nothing, and that it was the President and former speaker Rep. Martin Romualdez who got P253 billion in total insertions.

“I keep my hands off the budget. Funds just passed through me,” Co said.

“Dismissed Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara was lying when he said that I received a total of P21 billion in commissions. The truth of the matter is I delivered a total of P56 billion to the former speaker from 2022 to 2025,” he pointed out.

“Former speaker Martin told me to deliver P2 billion monthly, to be shared with PBBM,” he said referring to the President by his initials. “This came from SOP and collections. And he (Romualdez) told me ‘don’t stop my insertions and just keep off,’” Co said.

The former Ako Bicol party-list congressman also claimed that Justice undersecretary Jose Cadiz – a trusted aide of Marcos – had also collected funds on the President’s behalf.

The timeline he gave was November 2024 when Congress leaders were in the process of deliberating on the budget in the bicameral conference committee.

It was at the bicameral meeting where Cadiz reportedly relayed Marcos’ purported disappointment over a shortfall in the amount that he was supposed to receive.

“Former speaker Martin told me to take several luggage of cash to Tamarind street in Forbes Park that I delivered personally to Jojo Cadiz, who would take them to Narra Street which is also in Forbes Park,” Co said.

He described Romualdez’s Forbes Park residence as the “drop off point” for the bags of cash for the officials.

Impeachable offenses

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday said President Marcos had committed various offenses that could justify his impeachment. Duterte herself had been impeached.

“He saw what Congress did to the National Expenditure Program, this was his budget but he still signed it, so his signature in the General Appropriations Act is the best evidence against him. He is accountable because he allowed the insertions, so that is a culpable violation of the Constitution,” Duterte said in Davao City.

“Based on my personal knowledge they (Romualdez and Co) have control of the budget. The chairman of the (House) appropriations committee cannot move unless he is ordered by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, so that’s their part, right?” Duterte added.

Then budget chief Amenah Pangandaman supposedly informed Co at the start of the 2024 bicam process that “their meeting with the President has just been finished and there was an instruction to insert P100 billion worth of projects in bicam.”

Duterte added that the continued refusal of Marcos to take a drug test is also an impeachable offense.

“The refusal to take a drug test, that is a betrayal of public trust,” Duterte noted.

She added that the arrest of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte is also a ground for the filing of impeachment case against Marcos.

“Allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enter the Republic of the Philippines is a culpable violation of the Constitution, that is against our national sovereignty. There are so many impeachable offenses committed by Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” Duterte said. — Delon Porcalla, Bella Cariaso