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(1st UPDATE) ‘They made me the poster boy of their own lies,’ Zaldy Co says of Marcos and Romualdez, who, incidentally, is celebrating his birthday
MANILA, Philippines – Former congressman Zaldy Co broke his silence, accusing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former House speaker Martin Romualdez of masterminding the insertion of P100 billion worth of projects in the 2025 budget.
Co made the allegation in a video statement sent by his office on Friday, November 14, incidentally the birthday of his former ally, Romualdez.
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Co claimed that at the start of the bicameral conference committee deliberations for the 2025 budget last year, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman called him, saying the President had instructed him to make the billions of pesos in insertions.
Pangandaman allegedly told Co that he could confirm the President’s instructions from Presidential Legislative Liaison Office head Adrian Bersamin, who was supposedly in the meeting with Marcos that day. Bersamin was with the Office of the Executive Secretary at that time.
Bersamin allegedly confirmed the directive. After a few days, he and Pangandaman supposedly set a meeting with Co and Romualdez to hand him P100 billion in government projects that the President allegedly wanted to insert in the budget.
The document was supposedly inside a brown leather bag that Co believed to be owned by the President.
“After a few days, I informed former speaker Martin Romualdez, Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, and Undersecretary Jojo Cadiz that only P50 billion should be inserted into the program funds because the Department of Public Works and Highways funds would end up exceeding the Department of Education’s. In practice, the DPWH budget cannot be higher than the education budget,” Co said in Filipino in the video statement.
“A day later, Secretary Amenah called me and said, ‘The President’s message is: include it because Speaker Martin promised that to me, and it can no longer be changed,’” he added.
Co also claimed he left the Philippines on July 19 for a medical check-up abroad, but was asked by Romualdez not to go home.
“I followed. But what I didn’t know was that when they said they would ‘take care of me,’ what they really meant was that they would use me as a scapegoat in their anti-corruption campaign. They made me the poster boy of their own lies,” he added.
‘Why would Marcos insert P100B at the bicam?’
Asked to comment about Co’s exposé, Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson said while he was not defending the President, one just needs to understand the budget process to determine the veracity of Co’s claim.
Lacson said that the budget process begins with the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or proposed budget that emanates from the Executive which the President has “complete control over,” and if Marcos so wanted, he could have directed the Department of Budget and Management to add P100 billion to the DPWH budget in the NEP.
“Why would he insert P100 billion sa bicam samantalang sa NEP kaya niyang gawin iyon? Second, bakit niya vineto (Why would he insert P100 bilion at the bicam when he can do that in the NEP? Second, why did he veto [the budget insertions])?”
After what he called an “an exhaustive and thorough review,” Marcos on December 30, 2024, announced he had vetoed P194 billion in line items in the 2025 budget: P26.065 billion worth of projects under the DPWH and P168.240 billion allocated under Unprogrammed Appropriations. He said these line items “are not consistent with our priorities.”
Co has become the focal point of blame in the government’s flood control scandal, which has sparked the largest anti-government demonstrations the country has seen in years.
Co is a longtime contractor, and the construction firm he founded — Sunwest — bagged billions of pesos in projects while he was appropriations chair. – With a report from Tatiana Maligro/Rappler.com
