PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday dared former congressman Zaldy Co to stop hiding abroad and return to the Philippines to substantiate his claims that the president and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez received over P56 billion in kickbacks from anomalous flood-control projects.
“Come home, why are you hiding far away? I’m here. I’m not hiding from anything. If you have an accusation against me, I’m here,” Marcos said in Filipino during a press briefing at Malacañang, responding to Co’s latest online video.
In the video, Co detailed alleged monthly cash deliveries, budget insertions, and other schemes supposedly designed to benefit Marcos and Romualdez between 2022 and 2025.
He claimed he handled a total of P56 billion intended for the two officials, excluding a separate P100 billion budget insertion allegedly ordered by the president for 2025 and another P97 billion flood-control allocation in the 2026 National Expenditure Program. Co insisted he never personally received the money.
Marcos dismissed all allegations, calling Co’s claims online “meaningless” without proof. “For it to mean something, come home. Let him deal with his cases. If he wants to say something, say it. The people would find out about it. Prove it,” Marcos said.
The president also noted that seven of Co’s co-accused are now in custody and urged Co, along with others still at large, to surrender to face charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman.
These charges involve graft and malversation of public funds over an anomalous flood-control project in Oriental Mindoro, based on evidence gathered by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Co, who has released four installments of his social media video series, claims he cannot return to the Philippines due to “a serious threat” to his life, alleging efforts to brand him a terrorist both domestically and internationally to silence him.
He said the alleged kickback scheme began shortly after he became chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations in 2022.