President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. got P25 billion as ‘SOP’ or kickbacks from his requested P100 billion in insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co said in the second part of his bombshell video detailing graft in the spending law.
In Part 2 of his video uploaded on Facebook Saturday morning, Co walked back his earlier denial of his ex-aide Orly Guteza’s testimony before the Senate blue ribbon committee about delivering bags of cold cash to former Speaker Martin Romualdez’s residence in Forbes Park in Makati City and on Aguado Street at the Malacañang compound in Manila.
This time, however, Co claimed the deliveries also included Marcos’ residence, and that he himself made the deliveries alongside his executive assistants Paul Estrada and Mark Tecsay.
‘All the insertions went to our president and to Speaker Martin Romualdez,’ Co alleged. ‘I, my staff [and] my security personally delivered this to President Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez’s house in North Forbes Park, South Forbes Park, up to Malacanang itself.’
The former appropriations chair of the 19th Congress also denied getting any money from these dealings, and that the Department of Public Works and Highways told him that Marcos personally got 25 percent as standard operating procedure from the passage of the 2025 GAA.
‘This means P25 billion (from the 2025 budget) went to President Bongbong Marcos,’ Co said.
He challenged Marcos appointee and Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla to investigate both Marcos and Romualdez, Remulla’s fraternity brother in Upsilon Sigma Phi, ‘if he was truly serious about his promise’ to sweep everyone involved in the multi-million flood control scandal.
He also urged the Senate to investigate the alleged insertions by the President ‘as I have no faith that the Office of the Ombudsman can do this.’
On Friday, Co broke his silence to accuse Marcos and Romualdez of ordering P100 billion worth of insertions for public works and other programs in the controversial 2025 GAA.
The Palace has since dismissed Co’s allegations as mere hearsay, while Romualdez has yet to address the allegations by his former lieutenant who resigned his post in the House in September after emerging as a central figure in the flood control scandal.
Apart from his alleged involvement in the anomalies in the 2025 GAA, Co is also accused of benefiting from anomalous public works projects through his construction firm Sunwest Inc., one of the top flood control contractors in the country. He has yet to address these allegations.