Marcos Jr. Claims Zaldy Co’s Lawyer Allegedly Tried to Blackmail Him
ZALDY CO’S LAWYER – Atty. Ruy Rondain denied the claims of Pres. Bongbong Marcos that he allegedly reached out to him and blackmailed him.
The supposed multi-billion flood control corruption left countless Filipinos disappointed. It triggered the so-called “Trillion Peso March” that was first held last September 21 and it gathered thousands of people to protest against corruptions on the streets. The Filipinos are set to hold another rally on November 30.
Amid the disappointment of the Filipino people, Pres. Bongbong Marcos vowed that he was the one who started the investigation on the flood control mess and he will be the one to finish it. He ordered the creation of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure or ICI to probe the issue. Arrest warrants have been released against at least 16 individuals including Zaldy Co.
Zaldy Co was the former chairman of the House Committee on Budget Appropriations. Several witnesses in the flood control issue implicated him in the supposed budget insertion mess and kickback system. Amid the accusations against him, Co resigned from being the representative of Ako Bicol Partylist.
However, amid the pursuit of the President for accountability in the flood control mess, Zaldy Co accused Marcos Jr. and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez of allegedly inserting a P100 billion budget in the 2025 national fund. According to him, Marcos Jr. and Romualdez also allegedly got a P56 billion kickback all for themselves.
The claims of Zaldy Co were made through videos posted on his social media account. He refused to return to the Philippines amid the massive accusations against him. He also claimed that Romualdez and Marcos Jr. were allegedly behind his staying out of the country.
Recently, Zaldy Co also posted on social media photos showing the alleged insertions of Ilocos Norte Congressman Sandro Marcos. He claimed that the budget insertions of the presidential son has reached over P50 billion from 2022 to 2025. Following his claims, Pres. Bongbong Marcos claimed that the camp of Zaldy Co allegedly tried to blackmail him. According to the Chief Executive, Zaldy Co’s lawyer supposedly reached out to him and offered that Co will stop posting videos online in exchange for his passport not to be cancelled.
Recently, Zaldy Co’s lawyer denied the claim of Pres. Bongbong Marcos that he allegedly tried to blackmail him. Based on a report on Inquirer, Atty. Ruy Rondain, the legal counsel of Co, claimed that the President’s accusation against their camp is allegedly “completely untrue”.
Based on the report, Zaldy Co’s lawyer also further claimed that he has supposedly not reached out to anyone from the government. According to him, he has no control over the videos released by his client.
“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,” Zaldy Co’s lawyer said.
Amid the corruption accusations against the President, his sister, Senator Imee Marcos, also accused of allegedly using illegal drugs. In a rare occasion, Pres. Bongbong Marcos spoke on the allegations of Sen. Imee Marcos.