(UPDATE) EMBATTLED Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co should explain the insertions that he made in the 2025 budget when he returns to the Philippines, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said Saturday.
His statement came as Speaker Faustino Dy III ordered Co to return to the Philippines by revoking his travel authority to the United States, where he was supposed to be seeking medical treatment.
It also followed a statement from the Palace Friday rebuking Vice President Sara Duterte for suggesting that they “kidnap” Co and bring him back to the country.
Also on Saturday, the Senate allowed former Bulacan 1st District assistant engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez a strictly supervised 12-hour release from detention to retrieve documents he claims could support his explosive allegations linking lawmakers and other officials to anomalous flood control projects.
Hernandez, a former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official, has been under Senate custody since he was cited in contempt for lying before the Blue Ribbon Committee. Despite this, he has since surfaced as a key witness both before the Senate and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the body created by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to investigate the alleged misuse of billions in flood control funds.
Budget insertions
Tiangco earlier accused Co of making billions of pesos of insertions in the 2025 budget to his own district and his allied party-lists, Ako Bicol and Barangay Health Workers.
“Co has no more excuses, as the speaker is the one who ordered him to come home. It is time for him to show the people and explain where his insertions in the 2025 budget went,” Tiangco said in Filipino in a statement on Saturday.
Tiangco thanked Dy for acting immediately on the issue.
“We have been telling for so long that [Co] must attend the hearings, as there are things that he can only say,” he said.
He said that the order of Dy was a “crucial step” in dispelling doubts that real reforms would be implemented following the ouster of Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez as speaker.
“This order from the speaker is proof that there is change in the leadership of Congress. It also shows that he will not hide anything under his leadership,” Tiangco said.
Tiangco said that Co must shed light on the insertions made by the small committee of the budget made in 2024.
“The Filipino people need to know. Only by baring all the insertions made in the small committee can we finally show real transparency and preserve the integrity of Congress as an institution,” Tiangco said.
Bad advice
Meanwhile, Malacañang called out the vice president for suggesting they kidnap Co and bring him home to answer for his alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects, saying such a proposal was both “illegal and dangerous.”
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro questioned whether it should be how a vice president gives advice.
“And then her advice is to have Zaldy Co kidnapped… that’s illegal. So is that how a vice president gives suggestions, by encouraging illegal actions? That’s dangerous,” Castro said.
The Palace official said there was no hold departure order to stop Co from traveling abroad, despite being implicated in the flood control anomalies.
She also said that the travel authority was granted not by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. but by the speaker of the House of Representatives.
“First of all, she asked why he was allowed to travel. She should know, as vice president, that the travel of lawmakers is not under the jurisdiction of the president,” Castro said.
Castro has once again criticized the vice president for her frequent personal travels abroad amid issues linking her to corruption.
“Doesn’t she remember that she herself traveled more frequently, and the Office of the President allowed it — even when she had pending issues of corruption included in the articles of impeachment? So what’s the difference?” Castro said.
“In her case, there were already issues; in Zaldy Co’s case, it’s only under investigation,” she added.
In an interview on Thursday, Duterte criticized Marcos’ response to the anomalous flood control projects, saying that the administration is not sincere in its investigation.
She said one example to prove that they do not really have sincerity in the flood control investigation was letting Co leave the country and former speaker Martin Romualdez resign from his post.
“The Office of the President was involved in the kidnapping of former president Rodrigo Duterte. Now, why can’t they also kidnap Zaldy Co in America and bring him back here in the Philippines? Why can’t they detain Martin Romualdez in the detention unit of the House of Representatives?” Duterte said.
Contractor spouses Curlee and Sarah Discaya earlier alleged that lawmakers and DPWH officials who asked them for commissions from government projects frequently mentioned the name of Romualdez and Co in relation to commissions from flood control projects.
Curlee, however, later clarified that he did not have any direct transactions with Romualdez and Co.
Both Romualdez and Co denied the accusations made against them.
Under guard
The order allowing Hernandez to leave the Senate was signed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and emphasized that the former DPWH engineer must not be left unattended at any time during the trip.
Sotto confirmed that he approved the excursion after Hernandez asked the Blue Ribbon Committee to lift the contempt order against him during Thursday’s hearing. While the request to lift his detention was denied by committee chairman Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Sotto said he signed a separate order to allow Hernandez to gather materials that could “shed more light on the matter at hand.”
“Yes, I already allowed it,” Sotto told reporters in a message. “There will be man-to-man guarding, even in his room, to locate the documents he needs to show. He’ll be back at the Senate by 6 p.m.”
In his sworn statements, Hernandez accused Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva of receiving at least 30 percent in kickbacks from nearly P1 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Bulacan.
He also claimed that Estrada maneuvered to secure P355 million in allocations, while Villanueva was linked to P600 million in insertions for projects in the province.
Both senators have denied the allegations.
Lacson said that while Hernandez’s allegations on budget insertions were already validated by the General Appropriations Act, his claim of a 30 percent commission still lacks documentary evidence.
“The one element that is missing is proof that he actually gave 30 percent to those two,” Lacson said. “If he can’t show any evidence, that will remain an allegation. But if he can, then we can recommend to the ICI or the Ombudsman to file cases against our two colleagues.”
Both Estrada and Villanueva have repeatedly denied the accusations. In a fresh statement, Estrada dismissed Hernandez as “an incredible and unreliable witness whose fabrications cannot stand against facts.”
Villanueva, for his part, vowed to face the allegations in court, saying in a video message: “It is enough. I am tired of these accusations without proof. I will fight this in the proper forum. I will sue them, and I will face it all there.”
Despite the denials, Hernandez has signaled that more government officials may be implicated in the flood control mess, though he admitted that he still lacks the necessary proof.
He has since surrendered a luxury vehicle to the ICI in what he described as a sign of good faith.
Senate officials said Hernandez’s heavily guarded excursion on Saturday was intended to give him the opportunity to secure documents that could substantiate his allegations, which continue to rock both chambers of Congress and cast doubt on billions of pesos worth of infrastructure spending.
