President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said that the lawyer of former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co attempted to blackmail him to prevent the cancellation of Co’s passport.
Marcos said the offer was made in exchange for Co ceasing to post videos related to the government’s alleged flood-control issues.
‘Zaldy Co’s lawyer approached us and tried to blackmail us, saying that if we didn’t cancel his passport, he wouldn’t release the video anymore,’ Marcos said in a video statement posted on his social media account.
No negotiation
Marcos rejected the deal.
‘I do not negotiate with criminals. Even if you release a video of all your lies about destabilizing the government. I want you to know Zaldy, your passport will still be canceled. You will not escape justice,’ he said.
‘You will not be able to escape from justice,’ the President said.
Atty. Ruy Rondain, legal counsel of Co, immediately dismissed Marcos’ pronouncements.
‘Completely untrue. I have not spoken with anyone from the government to negotiate the stoppage of the videos for the passport. As I have always maintained, I have no control over the release of the videos,’ he said in a statement sent to reporters.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has yet to receive a court order to cancel the passport of Co.
Marcos, in the same video statement, also announced the Anti-Money Laundering Council had obtained two new freeze orders targeting assets of those implicated in the flood-control graft scandal, bringing the value of immobilized holdings to nearly P12 billion. Included in this amount are the air assets of Co worth P4 billion.
‘And in addition to that, we have recovered 3,566 bank accounts, 198 insurance policies, 247 motor vehicles, 178 real properties, 16 e-wallet accounts, and also air assets that have been frozen,’ Marcos said.
‘This is just the beginning. More assets will be frozen so that people’s money will be given back to them. This is our promise that the money of the people will be given back to the people,’ he also said.
Furthermore, he said the Independent Commission for Infrastructure and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are scheduled to submit evidence to the Office of the Ombudsman and recommend the filing of cases of plunder, anti-graft, bribery, and conflict of interest against eight undisclosed congressmen who own construction companies with projects under the DPWH.
In his video on Tuesday, Co implicated Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos in the flood control mess for allegedly inserting at least P50 billion worth of public works projects in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets. These accusations were denied by Rep. Marcos.
Co’s previous videos accused the president, former Speaker Martin Romualdez, and other high-level Malacañang officials of orchestrating graft-ridden insertions in the budget as a source of kickbacks later.