By Renato Reyes Jr. | President, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
While the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing was ongoing, former Ako Bikol partylist representative Zaldy Co broke his silence and accused President Bongbong Marcos of involvement in the insertion of P100 billion in infrastructure projects in the 2025 budget. This happened during the Bicameral Conference in 2024. Zaldy Co also named former House Speaker Matin Romualdez, DBM secretary Amenah Pangandaman and USec Adrian Bersamin of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office and the nephew of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
Highlights of Co’s testimony include:
- Marcos Jr allegedly ordered the insertion of P100 billion in infrastructure projects in the regular budget for 2025. Co disclosed a list of the supposed projects ordered inserted by Marcos Jr consisting mainly of road works and drainage projects plus items for other government agencies including the Office of the President which received P5.4 billion for the “ASEAN Summit and Meetings for 2026”.
- Zaldy Co was approached by Sec. Pangandaman and USec. Bersamin and was told to make the insertions as ordered by Marcos Jr. The order was also confirmed by former Speaker Martin Romualdez and Co was told there was nothing they could do
- Zaldy Co suggested that only P50 billion be inserted in the regular budget and the other P50 billion be lodged in the unprogrammed appropriations since the DPWH budget will already be bigger than the DepEd budget. This proposal was rejected by Marcos.
- Zaldy Co confirms that revisions in the budget, whether additions or reductions, were all approved by Marcos Jr. He also confirmed that it was the President who approved the releases of the unprogammed appropriations.
5. Zaldy Co was allegedly promised protection by Marcos Jr and Romualdez while he was abroad but instead he became the scapegoat and “poster-boy” of corruption.
- In what was only a teaser, Co referred to the delivery of money to the houses of Marcos Jr and Romualdez. This may be the subject of the Part 2 of his video testimony. The alleged delivery of money may be the kickback or SOP for infrastructure projects, the modus in the DPWH as revealed by its own officials.
While Mr. Co’s motives for spilling the beans on Marcos Jr is likely tied to his current legal predicament, and that he may be seeking concessions at this point, his revelations deserve closer scrutiny because they are plausible. The huge amounts involved cannot just be inserted without the knowledge and approval of the President. The list of projects allegedly inserted by order of the President should now be validated with the 2025 GAA, their current status and releases ascertained and the contractors disclosed.
The revelations made by Mr. Co affirm what various groups have been saying about the involvement of Mr. Marcos in massive corruption – from the preparation of the budget, insertions, unprogrammed appropriations and releases of funds. If DPWH officials are saying that there is corruption and SOP in the different stages in the budget, from the inclusion in the NEP all the way to bicam insertions and releases, it should be assumed that the proponent of the budget insertions, in this case Marcos Jr., would be a recipient of such SOPs or “commitments” as Usec Robert Bernardo calls it.
The whole issue now raises questions on what we can do as the political crisis worsens. Surely there are many who are wary of the timing of Co’s testimony, coming on the eve of rallies organized by groups identified with the previous administration. We do not know if the testimony was deliberately timed for the November 16 rally, but we can be certain that the groups organizing the rally will use the revelations as additional agitation for their action.
Let us be clear then. All those involved in corruption, all the way to the President, the Vice President, the previous administration and the current administration should all be investigated and held accountable for their actions. The fear of a Duterte restoration should not prevent us from holding Marcos to account. And if the Duterte camp tries to take advantage of the political crisis for their own narrow ends, the people will rise up to oppose this.
The revelations today should affirm our view that the entire ruling system is the problem and the politicians in power, whether Marcos or Duterte, are not the solution. If anything, our collective frustration should translate into ending a corrupt system and a regime of impunity represented by both the Marcos and Duterte political dynasties. Sobra na, tama na! Pare-pareho sila!
Speculations on what scenario will take place will all be for naught if there is no mass movement weighing in. We can debate constitutional succession or extra constitutional means, or the resignation of the two top officials and the holding of elections, but this would only be an exercise in wishful thinking unless people actually organize and mobilize for change.
We are not helpless nor are we out of options. Let us look at our history and how the people navigated the different crisis periods.
When the EDSA people power resulted in the ouster of the dictator Marcos in 1986, Cory Aquino became president after Marcos rigged the snap elections. She declared a “revolutionary government” not because it was revolutionary in terms of class composition but because she set aside the 1973 Constitution, proclaimed a Freedom Constitution and created a Constitutional Commission that drafted a new constitution. Aquino exercised both executive and legislative powers, local officials were replaced and “OIC’s” were installed and Marcos assets were seized by the government. This was made possible because of the strength of the mass movement, of the broad united front against Marcos, and the need to sweep away the vestiges of the dictatorship. The new government was backed by big business, the military, the church and of course the US, which ensured some stability. But the “revolutionary government” would end as soon as the 1987 constitution was ratified. The changes that happened during this period were not thoroughgoing as the same ruling classes were in power.
During the movement to oust the Estrada regime, then VP Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was an acceptable alternative so the constitutional succession was followed. This outcome was again backed by big business, the military, the church and of course the US. Then Senator Teofisto Guingona, Jr. was chosen to become the Vice President. It would not be long before Arroyo would be at odds with the forces that mobilized during EDSA 2.
During the movement to oust the corrupt and fascist regime of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, various groups proposed the creation of a “transition council” where the forces that mobilized to oust GMA through people power would be given a voice in government, that there would be reforms for the people and that elections would eventually be held to choose new leaders. At the time, VP Noli de Castro was not an acceptable replacement to GMA. While Arroyo was not ousted, the idea that there could be a period of transition before the holding of elections, where the usual route of constitutional succession by the VP would not be followed, and that the people would have a bigger voice during the transition, was something new and worth considering. It gave hope to the people, that our choices were not confined to bad and worse.
The outcome today would also depend on the strength and determination of the people, on their desire to pursue genuine change, beyond the superficial as well as the response of the forces resistant to change . It is clear that should Marcos go, Duterte is not an acceptable alternative. If both are held to account and removed from office, there are still options. Maybe this time the people, because they are so frustrated with the current system, will demand that we take a different route and give a bigger voice to the democratic forces to carry out real reforms as what we had hoped for during the Arroyo regime.
What can we do now? Mobilize relentlessly to hold to account Marcos, his regime and his officials. Hold the Dutertes accountable for their role in past and present corruption. Reject the notion that they are our only choices for this country. Assert that it is time the people become empowered, that our voices matter and should there be a situation where the demands for accountability lead to the removal from office of the two highest officials of the land, then the people should have a say in the immediate outcome. Surely we do not want a military take over and we want meaningful reforms beyond the mere changing of the top leadership. However this will only be possible if we continue mobilizing and organizing and preparing for the twists and turns that this struggle may bring us. ###
