{"id":17485,"date":"2025-11-15T01:39:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/?p=17485"},"modified":"2025-11-15T01:39:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:39:03","slug":"accusations-against-pbbm-complete-lies-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/2025\/11\/15\/accusations-against-pbbm-complete-lies-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"ACCUSATIONS AGAINST PBBM COMPLETE LIES \u2013 PALACE"},"content":{"rendered":"

MALACA\u00d1ANG disproved as complete lies the claims made by beleaguered ex-Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, one of the main personalities implicated in the flood control and infrastructure corruption scandal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Palace emphasized that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. himself initiated the investigation into the corruption that has resulted in the filing of criminal cases, issuance of asset freeze orders and implementation of reforms in the Department of Public Works and Highways.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThese wild accusations are completely without basis in fact. All the charges leveled against the President are pure hearsay,\u201d Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez said in a news conference on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet us not forget, President Marcos Jr. himself exposed all these flood control anomalies and has taken numerous steps since to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice, the stolen wealth recovered, and the system is fixed to avoid any of this from happening again,\u201d Gomez added.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gomez challenged Co to return to the country to face investigation, and to make his statements under oath before the proper judicial authorities for legal accountability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the same news conference, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amehan Pangandaman disputed Co\u2019s claim about the President\u2019s supposed instructions for \u201cinsertions\u201d in the 2025 national budget during the bicameral conference committee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pangandaman pointed out that the President had no more hand in the budget process after Malaca\u00f1ang had submitted the National Expenditure Program to the Senate and the House of Representatives. The two Congress chambers deliberate separately then convene the bicameral conference committee before returning the reconciled budget to Malaca\u00f1ang for approval.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAll appropriations ordered by the President are already in the National Expenditure Program. That is why it is called the President\u2019s budget. So we reject any insinuations about it,\u201d Pangandaman said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bicam is purely under the power of the legislature. We respect and strictly follow the budget process and all our actions are above board,\u201d the DBM chief stressed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pangandaman explained the Office of the President and the Executive Branch complied with the directives of the Constitution to craft the National Expenditure Program, submit this to Congress 30 days after the State of the Nation Address, and to explain the proposed budget in public briefings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPagkatapos po nun, magde-deliberate na po sila. Wala na pong role ang Office of the President, ang Executive sa bicam,\u201d Pangandaman pointed out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PCO Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Co was merely diverting blame after he was implicated for pocketing huge kickbacks based on evidence and his questionable lavish lifestyle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDahil lumiliit na ang mundo ni Zaldy Co, kailangan niyang iiwas ang sarili at mag name-drop kahit walang katibayan at laway lang ang puhunan. Para masagip ang sarili sa paratang ng pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan at mapalitaw na siya ang biktima, siya ay magtatahi ng maling kwento laban sa ibang tao,\u201d Castro said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Palace Press Officer reiterated that President Marcos himself called attention to corruption in flood control projects during the July 28 Fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) and created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to pursue the investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBakit niya pasisimulan ang malalimang pag-iimbestiga, mag-establish ng ICI to investigate the anomalous flood control projects and other infrastructure kung ang Pangulo ay may kinalaman rito. Logic. Hindi ba dapat na iiwasan niya ang issue na ito kung siya mismo ay mapapaso,\u201d Castro said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMalinaw ang mga pangyayari: papalapit na tayo sa katotohanan kaya\u2019t pinipilit ilihis upang makaiwas ang mga tunay na may sala sa katarungan,\u201d Castro added. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In a video sent to reporters on Friday, embattled former lawmaker Elizaldy Co admitted to inserting around P100 billion in the bicam, claiming it was done under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s orders.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Co accused the administration of exhausting all resources to use him as a scapegoat in its anti-corruption campaign and that if he started talking, he would likely get shot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said Romualdez told him to stay out of the country and \u201che will be well taken care of as instructed by the president.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Co said he believed Romualdez at first, which is why he kept quiet and obeyed. What he didn’t know, he said, was that to be “taken care of” meant to be used as a fall guy instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ginawa nila akong poster boy ng kanilang sariling kasinungalingan. Ngayon hindi na ako mananahimik. Ilalabas ko ang lahat ng katotohanan\u00a0\u2014\u00a0may resibo, may ebidensya at may pangalan,” Co said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MALACAÑANG disproved as complete lies the claims made by beleaguered ex-Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, one of the main personalities implicated in the flood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17487,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485\/revisions\/17487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}