Various progressive groups said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should be held accountable for the large-scale corruption admitted in a video by the president’s former ally and House of Representatives appropriations committee chairperson Elizalde Co.
Following Co’s six minute video sent to media outfits on Friday, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said it has been further confirmed that Marcos Jr. is the single person mainly responsible for the corruption-infested national budgets.
“President Marcos Jr. is the one who drafts the National Expenditure Program, signs the General Appropriations Act emanating from Congress, and implements all the corruption-laden projects as Chief Executive,” BAYAN secretary general Raymond Palatino said in a statement.
“Unless he will admit to complete incompetence, he himself should be investigated and held accountable for his central role in the entire scam,” he added.
‘What the President wants, gets’
In his admission of irregularities, the former Ako Bicol Partylist representative said he was merely following instructions from no less than Marcos Jr. and the president’s cousin, former House of Representatives Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
In a seeming tell-all nearly six minute video, the resigned lawmaker said he was instructed by Marcos Jr., through budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman, to make P100 billion worth of insertions in 2023’s bicameral budget deliberations.
The instructions were confirmed in a phone call to Assistant Secretary Adrian Bersamin of the Office of the Executive Secretary, Co revealed.
The disgraced lawmaker further said he relayed the instruction to Romualdez who allegedly replied, “What the President wants, gets.”
A list of projects worth the same amount was directly given to him and Romualdez by Pangandaman and Bersamin and in the presence of Undersecretary Jojo Cadiz shortly thereafter, he continued.
Afterwhich, Co said he suggested that the amount be divided between the DPWH budget and the Office of the President’s unprogrammed funds in order for public works funds to not exceed the Department of Education budget.
The President refused as the amount had allegedly been promised to him to Romualdez, he said.
“That is why I am wondering why the President said he could not recognize the budget,” Co said.
Co, reportedly in hiding in a European country, said that the Marcos Jr. and Romualdez will assassinate him if he returns to the country.
He promised to release more videos revealing how Marcos Jr. benefitted from anomalous public works projects.
‘We said so’
Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said Co’s revelations validate their long-standing demand that investigations on anomalous government projects should include Marcos Jr.
“We have consistently held that Pres. Marcos Jr. is not exempt from accountability in the flood control corruption scandal. He signed into law the General Appropriations Act of 2023, 2024, and 2025 that included unprecedented levels of funding for flood control,” Tinio said.
“He was directly responsible for approving 3,700 flood control and other infrastructure projects from Unprogrammed Appropriations in 2023 and 2024,” the Makabayan lawmaker added.
Kabataan Youth Partylist Rep. Renee Co (no relation to Elizalde Co) said the revelations are the most direct testimony implicating the President.
“Basag ang pagpapanggap ni Marcos Jr. na wala siyang kaalam-alam o lumusot sa paningin niya ang korapsyon. Puro kasinungalingan ang report niya kahapon. Hindi siya tagapagligtas; siya ang hari ng korapsyon at matagal na nating sinasabi ito,” the youth representative said.
Rep. Co added that ongoing admissions by several implicated government officials also prove that the government is a criminal operation, one which is led by Marcos Jr. himself.
Kilusang Mayo Uno chairperson Jerome Adonis meanwhile said that Zaldy Co’s video clearly proved that Marcos Jr. is the country’s “commander-in-thief.”
Adonis said Marcos Jr. is no better than the president’s now-rival Vice President Sara Duterte in terms of thievery.
Former Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate also condemned the massive budget insertion and kickback scheme as “a stark, undeniable indictment of the entrenched system of corruption perpetuated by political dynasties in this country.”
Zarate emphasized that the scandal underscores the vicious cycle of bureaucrat capitalism where officials treat state resources as instruments for personal and familial enrichment.
Zarate echoed the “growing loud demand for swift, genuine accountability and a full-scale, independent investigation free from political interference.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
