- Says he is being used to cover-up anomalies
- Will reveal everything and has proofs to show
‘’SANA PO AY HINDI NILA AKO MAPATAY BAGO KO MAILABAS ANG LAHAT’’. (“I hope they that they will not have me killed before I will be able to reveal everything”.)
Former Bicol Congressman and Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives Zaldy Co said in his opening message aired on Facebook Friday.
The fugitive Co broke his silence for the first time and named Pres. Ferdinand R. Marcos and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as the masterminds of the anomalous insertions in the national budget in the bicammeral committee.
The bicameral committee (Bicam) is a joint committee made up of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, to resolve disagreements between their versions of a bill.
Co revealed in a video message released by his staff, that shortly before the bicam deliberations of the 2025 budget, that Secretary Amenah Pangandaman of the Department of Budget and Management instructed him to insert ₱100-billions for various projects. He added that Pangandaman advised him that he may confirm the directive from Adrian Bersamin of the Presidential -Legislative Liaison Office who was with Marcos during the meeting. Adrian is said to be the grandson of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
Co also claimed that he even bargained to reduce the budget insertions to just P50 billion as this goes beyond the allocation for the Department of Education but that Marcos stopped him, because the funds have already been guaranteed to him by Speaker Romualdez.
In a statement Co claimed that the proposed ₱100-billion insertions was for President Marcos and Speaker Romualdez. Co said he called up Romualdez to verify such order but the latter responded: “What the President wants, he gets”.
“Hindi na ako mananahimik, ilalabas ko ang katotohanan.” (I will no longer be silent, I will reveal the truth.)
Zaldy Co released a long list of projects which he claims were ordered by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to be inserted into the 2025 budget, totaling P100 billion.
The disclosures of Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co came on the heels of the scheduled rally initiated by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) moreover will be participated in by various sectors including the Muslim and Indigenous tribal communities.
Early last week President Marcos issued a statement saying: ‘’WALA NA SILANG ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS”
“It will be an unhappy Christmas for those involved in the flood control corruption mess, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday, November 13”.
