Co claims Sandro Marcos inserted P50B into budgets; House leader slams accusations

House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos is the latest lawmaker to be implicated in the alleged budget anomalies by fugitive former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, who accused him of inserting more than P50 billion worth of infrastructure projects from 2023 up to the present.

In the fifth installment of Co’s so-called video exposé uploaded online on Tuesday, the ex-House committee on appropriations chair alleged that Marcos inserted P9.636 billion into the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the first annual budget drafted and enacted under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the lawmaker’s father.

Co claimed that the insertions continued in the following years, alleging that Rep. Marcos inserted P20.174 billion and P21.127 billion in the 2024 and 2025 GAAs, respectively.

“All in all, the total [insertion] is P50.938 billion. And every year, during the bicam budget process, Congressman Sandro always has an order to include his projects,” Co said in Filipino.

He further alleged that Rep. Marcos went ballistic after failing to accommodate his full requested insertions in this year’s budget, which purportedly led to Co’s ouster as appropriations chair.

“I just found out from the contractors that he was very angry with me when the 2025 GAA budget was being discussed. I was told that [Rep. Marcos] would have me removed and file multiple cases against me because the insertion he wanted was short by P8 billion,” he claimed.

Co continued, “The alleged reason was that there were contractors who had already advanced payments to him, and because the full amount was not included, he had to return it to them.”

‘Zaldy Co champion of DDS’

Rep. Marcos was quick to reject the accusations, asserting that Co’s imputations were an attempt to destabilize the administration and draw support from Duterte loyalists in hopes of being “absolved of his own crimes.”

“The statements from the newly crowned champion of the DDS cabal, former Congressman Elizaldy Co, are frankly as fantastical as they are false,” Rep. Marcos retorted, adding that Co has “no credibility,” much less of a “truth crusader.”

Marcos contended that Co’s alleged misdeeds cost him the chairmanship and that his removal was not because of any individual’s decision but a consensus reached by the majority of the panel.

“Zaldy Co was removed as appropriations chairman because members caught wind of his insatiable greed and corruption. Not because of the whim of any individual. The ‘sagasa’ that he orchestrated in certain districts, such as Bulacan and other municipalities, speaks for themselves,” he added.

Co spearheaded the budget process in the previous 19th Congress but did not finish his three-year term, resigning in January shortly after the enactment of the 2025 GAA, which has since been marred by allegations of corruption.

Recall that it was Rep. Marcos who moved to declare Co’s position vacant, a motion approved on the floor by then House Speaker Martin Romualdez. At the time, the only reason cited by Co for “step[ping] down” was “pressing medical concerns.”

Co later won a third consecutive term in the current 20th Congress under the Ako Bicol Party-list but resigned again in late September after his travel authority was revoked and after Speaker Bojie Dy gave him an ultimatum to return to the country.

He left the Philippines in July and continues to hide abroad despite subpoenas and an arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan over a P289.5-million “grossly substandard” flood control project in Oriental Mindoro that was awarded to Sunwest Inc., a construction firm reportedly owned by the former lawmaker.

Co has repeatedly cited threats to his safety as the reason for refusing to return to the Philippines. Earlier, he claimed Romualdez threatened to “shoot me if I will talk” and alleged that the administration plans to tag him as a “terrorist” following his accusations that Marcos and Romualdez received alleged kickbacks from the P100 billion in insertions under this year’s budget.

Both Marcos and Romualdez have dismissed the allegations.