Palace, DBM: Pure hearsay; Lacson: No probative value
Resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co pointed at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as being behind the supposed P100 billion “insertions” in the 2025 national budget.
“This all started when (Budget Secretary) Amenah Pangandaman talked to me during the start of the bicameral process in 2024. She said she just came from a meeting with the President, and there were instructions to insert P100 billion worth of projects in the bicam,” Co said in a video message released by his camp Friday—the first time he spoke about the issue.
“Secretary Menah even said, ‘You can confirm with Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin’ because they were together in the meeting with President BBM,” he added.
Co said he called then Speaker Martin Romualdez and reported the alleged instructions of the President.
Co claimed Romualdez, who took no part in the bicameral process, replied: “What the President wants, he gets.”
“The administration is using the entire resources of the country to keep me quiet. That he will shoot me if I talk. I will be used as a cover for a hole in their campaign against corruption,” he said.
Malacañang, for its part, dismissed the claims of Co against the President as “pure hearsay” and a diversion from the former solon’s alleged role in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
In separate statements, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez and Undersecretary Claire Castro said Co should return to the Philippines, swear to his claims before proper authorities, and face the cases being prepared against him.
“These wild accusations are completely without basis and fact. All the charges leveled against the President are pure hearsay,” Gomez said in a press briefing.
The President reduced the 2025 national budget from P6.352 trillion to P6.326 trillion following the veto of P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with the administration’s priority programs.
Of the P194 billion slashed from the 2025 budget, President Marcos vetoed P26.065 billion worth of projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways andP168.240 billion allocated under “Unprogrammed Appropriations.”
Castro also accused Co of “name-dropping without evidence.”
“Because the world of Zaldy Co is getting small, he has to dodge and name-drop instead without evidence,” she said.
Pangandaman also rejected insinuations that the executive branch played a role in how the budget process went down in the bicameral conference committee.
“All appropriations ordered by the President are already in the National Expenditure Program. That is why it is called the President’s Budget. So, we reject any insinuations about it,” Pangandaman said in a separate statement.
“The bicam is purely under the power of the legislature. We respect and strictly follow the budget process and all our actions are aboveboard,” she added.
Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Panfilo Lacson also expressed disbelief over Co’s allegations.
“As of now, it has no probative value because Co is not under oath,” Lacson said in an ambush interview yesterday. “He should come here and repeat his statement under oath.”
“I’m not saying it’s unbelievable, but at face value, there is such a thing as common sense — the budget process starts with the NEP, and the President has complete control over what should be inserted in the NEP. So with that, why would he make insertions at the bicam level?” Lacson added.
Lacson warned against relying on hearsay or statements from unverified sources, which he said could compromise the investigation.
Romualdez has yet to issue a comment on the issue as of press time.
Co said he initially planned to return to the country after the President delivered his State of the Nation Address on July 28, 2025.
However, he was surprised to learn he was now being used as a “scapegoat” in the flood control mess.
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), for its part, said it will assess the disclosure made by Co.
“The commission is still carefully reviewing and studying what was divulged during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee as well as in the alleged video of the former Cong. Zaldy Co, before weighing in on any action or statement,” said ICI Executive Director Brian Keith Hosaka in a statement.
The Department of Justice said it is open to the possibility of placing Co under its Witness Protection Program (WPP).
Justice spokesman Polo Martinez said Co must first submit an application to the DOJ.
“Nothing prevents him from doing so if he wishes to apply. There is no prohibition if he wants to file an application. But again, as with all other individuals who have filed applications with the WPP on a voluntary basis, we will have to assess whatever the content of his testimony is, the authenticity of the same, and veracity of his claims,” he said.
Martinez said the DOJ also cannot consider Co’s video as evidence unless it is formally submitted before the DOJ.
“The law says that the only evidence that we can evaluate, that we can consider, is what was submitted… There is no motu proprio to admit evidence that is not submitted especially now with the new quantum of evidence,” he said.
