Co reveals Marcos, Romualdez initiated P100B insertions in national budget

Former Ako Bicol party-list Representative Zaldy Co points to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and cousin Martin Romualdez for being the orchestrators of inserting P100 billion in BICAM projects in a video release on November 14.

He said it started when Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Amenah Pangandaman called him and relayed Marcos’ instructions of budget insertions in bicameral conference committee deliberations.

“Secretary Menah said, you can confirm with Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin becusse they were in the meeting with President BBM (Bongbong Marcos) the day,” he said

He then called Romualdez to confirm such instructions and got the reply, “What the President wants, he gets.”

Co said that originally there was an additional P100 billion for DPWH’s budget for 2025 but they reduced it to P50 billion as it would be larger than the DepEd budget, violating the Constitution’s budget priority.

However, Secretary Pangandaman urged to put it back in as Romualdez already “promised” it to Marcos.

“The following day, Secretary Pangandaman called and told me the President’s message, insert [the budget] that as promised by Speaker Martin and we can’t change that. The orders of the king must not be broken,”Pagkatapos ng isang araw, tinawagan ako ni Secretary Menah at sinabi niya, ang mensahe ng Pangulo, ipasok ninyo ‘yan dahil pinangako na sa akin ni Speaker Martin ‘yan at hindi na pwedeng baguhin. Kumbaga, ang utos ng hari hindi pwedeng mabali,” added Co.

Moreover, Co revealed that he was instructed to stay out of PH because he was promised to be “taken care of” by Marcos.

However, he now feels he is being made a “scapegoat” and that the government is in “full force to silence him.”

“The government is using all their resources in the country to silence me. That he will shoot me if I talk,” Co emphasized.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian cautioned the public to be careful in considering Co’s allegations during a break in the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the flood control anomaly on Friday.

“I don’t even know kung siya ba ’yun o may nagsasabi artificial intelligence. So we need to really validate,” Gatchalian said.

Co has become the focal point of blame in the government’s flood control scandal, while Marcos slammed contractors in his national address this year for corruption.