Secret vault in forbes park

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez are alleged to have received a staggering P56 billion in kickbacks, on top of what the Chief Executive reportedly got from this year’s P100-billion budget insertions.

In another explosive claim on Monday, fugitive former Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co alleged that a house in South Forbes Park was purchased as a “drop-off and storage point for money from SOPs and collections,” even providing the exact address in Part 4 of his online video exposés.

Co, now the subject of an arrest warrant, also claimed that President Marcos inserted P97 billion for flood control projects into the 2026 National Expenditure Program — the proposed budget submitted to Congress for approval. If passed, next year’s budget would total P6.793 trillion, making it the largest in Philippine history.

P2 billion monthly

The P56 billion allegedly represented the total of the monthly deliveries of P2 billion delivered to the President’s and the former speaker’s residences in Forbes Park from 2022 up to the present.

Co claimed that the required P2 billion in monthly deliveries was often not fully met, resulting in the final total.

“In 2022, shortly after I assumed the post of House Committee on Appropriations chairman, Speaker Romualdez immediately instructed me that I needed to deliver P2 billion per month,” he said in Filipino.

“Speaker Martin himself told me that the money will be split between him and the President,” he added.

Co claimed that the monthly deliveries for the President were received by Justice Undersecretary Jojo Cadiz — the only person instructed to deliver the same to Marcos’ residence.

‘Most corrupt budget’

Co served as chair of the Appropriations Committee in the 19th Congress but resigned in January, shortly after the passage of the 2025 General Appropriations Act, a budget widely criticized by opponents as the “most corrupt” ever.

Shortly after assuming the chairmanship of the powerful panel, Co recounted being contacted by former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo by phone regarding the flood crisis in Bulacan.

Subsequently, Bernardo endorsed former Bulacan 1st district engineer Henry Alcantara to personally negotiate with Co, including the splitting of alleged kickbacks for each flood control project.

Co claimed that 22 percent would go to Romualdez, two percent to Bernardo, while Alcantara would get one percent.

“That’s when the deliveries began,” Co said, adding that the flood control funds, once released to Alcantara’s office, were delivered to his home in Valle Verde, Pasig, or at a parking lot in BGC, Taguig.

“In total, I, along with my driver and staff, personally delivered P1 billion (to Usec. Cadiz from 2 to 5 December),” he said. “These are all based on the direct order of Speaker Martin Romualdez. And that’s how the total amount of P56 billion was delivered from 2022 to 2025.”

BBM still ‘upset’

However, despite the massive insertions in this year’s budget and the delivery of P1 billion in early December, Co said Cadiz informed him that the President was still “upset.”

In his earlier videos, Co acknowledged inserting P100 billion into the national budget, saying he did so to comply with President Marcos’ directive.

In Part 3 of his purported exposé, he alleged that Marcos and Romualdez, who are cousins, received P56 billion in flood control kickbacks.

He also showed digital pictures of nearly 300 suitcases that he claimed contained cash allegedly delivered to Marcos and Romualdez from January 2024 to May of this year, with the largest amount, P1 billion, delivered on 3 June and 2 October 2024 to a certain “RR.”

Marcos dismisses allegations

In response, Marcos said he “won’t dignify” Co’s allegations, while Romualdez insisted his conscience was clear, adding that the claims of his former ally “do not hold water in the court of law.”

Co, who left the Philippines in July and is still abroad, is now the subject of a manhunt following an arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan in connection with a “grossly substandard” P289.5-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.

The project was awarded to Sunwest Inc., an Albay-based construction firm reportedly owned by Co.

The former lawmaker insisted he never received P21 billion in kickbacks, saying the money only passed through him and that he acted merely as an informant.

P243B in UA

The House of Representatives’ approved budget retained P243 billion in unprogrammed appropriations (UA) — the so-called standby funds — which are allocated to infrastructure projects, including anti-flood initiatives.

In 2023 and 2024, a staggering P141 billion was reportedly tapped from the UA to fund flood control projects, now at the center of a widespread corruption probe involving lawmakers, DPWH officials, and private contractors.