Malacañang’s immediate response to former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co’s video bombshells, which began on 15 November, followed by the massive mobilization of the Iglesia ni Cristo to throw two key officials under the bus, shows that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is now operating in a defensive mode.

The mystery over the alleged resignations of former Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin persists. Former Cabinet official and former House member Mike Defensor believes the two erstwhile closest officials of Marcos were sacrificed as fall guys — either as collateral damage or accomplices in a scandal that has spiraled beyond containment and now threatens to engulf the Palace itself.

Co has been dismissed as having woven lies to deflect blame in the corruption scandal, but his revelation of P100 billion inserted during the bicameral conference on the 2025 national budget scored a direct hit.

Bersamin and Pangandaman, based on the statements they have issued thus far, were clueless about their sudden departure. Bersamin came out days after saying he did not file a resignation letter to debunk Malacañang’s claim that he had resigned.

Defensor said the Palace script is that the insertions occurred without Marcos’ knowledge and that the two terminated Cabinet officials would likely be blamed for it.

The loose end, however, is how P100 billion in insertions escaped the President.

Co’s claim in his video is that it was orchestrated within the Palace.

In the end, the two officials who were removed unceremoniously will be the fall guys. “At first, the designated scapegoat was Zaldy Co,” Defensor recalled.

“So, I’m asking Executive Secretary Bersamin and Secretary Pangandaman to tell the public the truth so that all of this will be ferreted out,” Defensor explained.

“I know of some people, of some circuits that are already talking with Bersamin, close to him, maybe trying to convince him because in the end, you know, you’ve been the Chief Justice,” he said, referring to salvaging the magistrate’s reputation after the Palace episode.

“His name is being tarnished and I think it’s about time that he comes out. If he’s not involved, then he should say what really happened and who’s really involved,” Defensor said in his appeal.

While Co’s motive in making the three-part videos implicating Marcos is questionable, Defensor said the former legislator keeps a ledger that provides evidence.

“He listed the money that he gave. Not only that, maybe because of the big amounts that they’re talking about, they also took pictures of the maletas [suitcases]. I understand that there are also videos and pictures. I do not want to preempt him. I do not exactly know what he’s talking about. But what his lawyer is saying is they have powerful evidence.”

Former Marine Orly Guteza, Co’s former aide, “was only part of that because he mentioned only about three, four deliveries, but Zaldy Co talked about weekly deliveries.”

Former Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said Pangandaman could be liable since the manipulation of the yearly budget has been happening since 2023, the first budget year of President Marcos and she did not raise a finger to stop it.

The mystery of who masterminded the perversion of the Marcos budgets — whether it is the President or the two stooges — may be known soon.

Bersamin and Pangandaman may yet emerge as either convenient whipping boys or unlikely whistleblowers in the Floodgate saga, which is now reaching its climax.