An idiot’s tale signifying nothing

What a farce, what a travesty.

The most guilty of all is the thief who should have been arrested a long time ago, handcuffed, strapped with an e-carceration tag to limit his movements and languishing in some dingy terrorism-proof cell surrounded by rats, cockroaches and SWAT operatives. Instead, he is a devil-may-care charlatan in some prime resort overseas and trying to bring down the government of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Almost daily on national TV and YouTube, resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co makes astonishing disclosures. That Marcos Jr. talked to him to secure P100 billion of insertions so the President could parlay P25billion SOP (commission or bribe), the cash delivered in expensive pieces of luggage to Malacañang no less and mansions in Forbes Park. That it was former speaker Martin Romualdez’s idea – upon the prodding of Marcos Jr. – that he left (July 19) before the July 28, 2025 SONA and take it easy until further advised.

Then on Nov. 14, 2025, Co suddenly realized he was being set up as the principal culprit – the poster boy, according to him – behind the P1-trillion flood-gate (flood control scam ala Watergate of Nixon). And that no less than Martin Romualdez had threatened to hire assassins to silence him for good.

The Zaldy Co disclosures fit perfectly into what Shakespeare calls “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Indeed, grossly emaciated with broken teeth, Co looks and sounds like an idiot. His drab light brown blazer makes him perfect for a prisoner’s sartorial look. And this is the guy who will bring down the Marcos government?

Zaldy’s perorations lack what lawyers call probative value – that is an evidence that is relevant proving the fact at issue is likely to have happened.

What is not likely to have happened?

First, that the President of the Philippines, one of the most powerful presidencies in the world (you can declare martial law for 14 years and reign for 20 years; you can kill 7,000 to 30,000 and endear yourself to Filipinos forever) would go down to the level of an upstart party-list congressman and make pakiusap to him, “Hey bro, Cong. Zaldy, can you make P100-billion insertions in my own budget so I can make 25 percent from it?” Isn’t that ridiculous?

The NEP or the National Expenditure Program is basically the budget of the President. He drafts it, designs it, makes insertions and proposals as merrily as he wishes to. Why would the President submit his NEP to Congress for Co and his ilk to mangle it and then plead with them to please, make insertions on my behalf? Why? Cannot the President do that by himself?

Cannot the President propose projects or insertions at his level? After all, he is the president. He gets what he wants, without ingratiating himself to Co.

Second, it was President Marcos himself who blew the whistle on the P1-trillion flood-gate scam perpetuated by Zaldy Co, et al. If he knew he himself was a party to the thievery, why would he dare expose it?

As a contractor, Co wangled up to P86 billion worth of contracts from the Department of Public Works and Highways in the past 10 years. His SOP was 25-30 percent. So 30 percent of P86 billion is P25.8 billion – exactly the amount of money BBM was supposed to have extracted from insertions courtesy of Co.

Co’s tragedy is that he was not content with skimming 25-30 percent off the value of insertions at the GAA level. He tried to capture the remaining 70-75 percent downloaded to engineers and contractors by being the contractor himself, which means he could easily double his loot. The ICI investigations have discovered Co’s companies handled scores of ghost projects and falsified documents.

Co timed his Nov. 14 disclosures in time for Sunday’s Iglesia ni Cristo sect’s rally for “Transparency and a Better Democracy” which drew a crowd of 350,000.

Yes, 350,000 is the maximum the carrying capacity of Rizal Park, from the Grandstand to Taft Avenue, at four persons standing shoulder to shoulder per square meter.

Pro-Duterte diehards had expected the INC to demand the resignation or downfall of the Marcos administration, using as cannon fodder Co’s “explosive” disclosures.

Instead, INC general evangelist Bienvenido Santiago Jr. said INC wants the ongoing investigations to be open to the public to ensure no cover-up, that those behind the anomalous flood control projects are held accountable “no matter who they are” and “no matter their position in the government.”

“Justice should not be diverted in order to protect anyone, especially the brains and the masterminds of the corruption,” Santiago declared at the INC rally Sunday.

Significantly, Santiago stressed INC is not part of any destabilization plots against the Marcos administration. “We do not agree with anything unconstitutional. We do not agree with a revolutionary government. We do not agree with a coup d’etat, with a snap election. We do not agree with a military junta,” the charismatic INC leader pointed out. “We do not want the fall of the government as an institution. What we want is the fall of corruption.”

While INC calls for truth and justice, it seeks to achieve this not through chaos or violence but through peaceful means. Said Santiago: “We are not calling for chaos, we are pushing for peace. Until those responsible are found, until the masterminds are held responsible, we will continue to watch and call for peaceful actions.”

“This is our exercise of our right to freely express ourselves,” the general evangelist told his mammoth crowd Sunday. “The Church of Christ joins fellow citizens concerned about corruption and flood-control projects carried out by senior government officials. We stand united with Filipinos across the country and the world in calling for transparency, accountability and peace.”

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