Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Tuesday suggested that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s name may have been misused in connection with accusations raised by former Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co.

Citing information from former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, Lacson said two Palace undersecretaries — Trygve Olaivar and Adrian Bersamin — may have invoked the President’s authority to advance certain budget insertions.

Lacson noted that upon reviewing the list of items vetoed in the proposed 2025 national budget, three items amounting to P1.15 billion within the P100-billion portion initially tagged as “for later release” were among the appropriations ultimately vetoed by Marcos. That P100-billion portion was at the center of Co’s earlier allegations.

The senator also stressed that Bernardo — not Co — allegedly made the cash deliveries related to kickbacks.

“I learned from Undersecretary Bernardo that there are people in Malacañang — not the President, and not authorized by the President — who misrepresented him. I will name some of them: Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, who invoked the President’s name, making Zaldy Co believe that the P100-billion insertions in the bicam were ordered by the President. There is also Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar, along with other individuals,” Lacson said.

He questioned the logic of the President supposedly ordering the insertions, noting that the allocations were eventually vetoed.

“If those were really insertions made by the President, why would he mark them for later release, and why would he veto them?” Lacson pointed out.