Resigned Ako Bicol party-list representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co claims he has been made a scapegoat — the poster boy of the administration’s anti-corruption campaign — by the very people he says masterminded it.
In a two-part video posted on his social media accounts and sent to media outlets, Co says he fully intended to return to the Philippines after a medical checkup in the United States. He left on July 19, 2025, planning to return after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on July 28. But he claims he received a call from former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez telling him not to return and assuring him he would be “well taken care of,” only for the administration to later vilify him.
Co points to President Marcos, alleging he ordered a ₱100-billion insertion into the 2024 General Appropriations Act while Co chaired the House Appropriations Committee. During the 2025 bicameral budget process, Co says Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman relayed instructions coming directly from the President, which he confirmed with Undersecretary Adrian Bernabe Bersamin of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office.
He says meetings and conversations involving himself, Romualdez, Pangandaman, Bersamin, and DOJ Undersecretary Jojo Cadiz confirmed the insertions as direct presidential orders. Co adds that Bersamin said the list of projects came from a “brown leather bag,” recalling a 2022 Singapore trip with Marcos and Romualdez, during which he quotes the President: “Maiwan na lahat, huwag lang ang brown leather bag.”
Co says he tried to negotiate the amount, arguing such a large insertion could be unconstitutional because it would make the DPWH budget exceed education funding. He questions why the President now denies knowledge of the insertions when all budget adjustments require presidential approval through the DBM.
In the second part of the video, Co says he received no money. Instead, he claims he and staffers Paul Strada, Mark Ticsay, and several security personnel personally delivered cash to the President’s and Romualdez’s residences in Malacañang, North Forbes Park, and South Forbes Park, and says he has records of the deliveries. He affirms former Philippine Marine Orly Guteza’s account of delivering luggage filled with cash to the same locations.
