In the second installment of a video series posted on his social media page, former Ako Bicol Partylist Representative Elizaldy Co, who is in hiding overseas, accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of “receiving” a P25-billion share of the P100-billion worth of alleged insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Part two of Co’s revelation video showed digital shots of nearly 300 suitcases he claimed were stuffed with cash that were delivered to the President at Malacañang and to former speaker Martin Romualdez’s residences in Forbes Park from January 2024 to May of this year.

Captions on the pictures of the deliveries made on 2 October 2024 gave the most significant chunk of cash at P1 billion, while other photos of suitcases lacked details.

Marcos was quick to debunk Co’s kickback accusation, while Romualdez dismissed the imputation as mere accusations that “will not hold water in a court of law.”

“My conscience remains clear. Throughout this inquiry, no public official, contractor, or witness has pointed to any wrongdoing on my part. I do not wish to comment on the recent statements and allegations made by former Representative Zaldy Co because these were not made under oath,” Romualdez said.

He said he would leave it to the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman to evaluate all the statements fairly and strictly on the basis of evidence.

According to Co, the cash represented the “SOP,” or standard operating procedure, from the recent budgets, including the P100 billion in insertions in the 2025 GAA allegedly demanded by the President.

Co’s statement was a turnaround from his previous pronouncement in which he belied whistleblower Orly Guteza’s testimony given in a Senate hearing on the flood control mess in September.

Guteza, Co’s alleged former security aide, told the Senate panel that he regularly delivered “basura” or suitcases purportedly filled with cash from flood control kickbacks, containing P48 million in each bag, to the residences of Co and Romualdez in Valle Verde 6, Pasig City, and Forbes Park, Makati, respectively.

‘Nothing for me’

The embattled former party-list legislator admitted his staff transported the money but claimed he never received any kickbacks from budget insertions and that everything went straight to Marcos and Romualdez.

“I only did what was instructed to me… I didn’t receive any money. All the insertions went to our President and speaker Martin Romualdez,” Co said in Filipino.