PRESIDENT President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday dismissed former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co’s allegation that he ordered PHP100 billion worth of insertions in the 2025 national budget and eventually received kickbacks from these.
“I don’t want to even dignify what he is saying,” Marcos told reporters in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, when asked about Co’s claims that he orchestrated the supposed insertions.
Co recently released two videos on Facebook accusing Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez of directing the inclusion of PHP100 billion in projects in the 2025 budget.
In a second video posted Saturday, Co further alleged that the entire PHP100 billion went to Marcos and Romualdez, and that the President supposedly received PHP25 billion as “SOP” delivered in suitcases to Malacañang.
Presidential Communications Office acting Secretary Dave Gomez rejected the accusations, calling them “a bunch of hearsay.”
“We may begin to sound like a broken record. What he is saying is a bunch of hearsay — sabi nito, sabi ni ano. He didn’t even rewrite the script in the second video even after the first one already went down the drain,” Gomez said.
Gomez reiterated the government’s call for Co to return to the Philippines and answer the allegations against him regarding the flood control anomalies.
“We continue to issue the same challenge: come home, sign these under oath, and face the music,” he added.
