The so-called “bagmen” of ex-lawmaker Elizadly Co, who identified themselves as former “Marines”, were no-shows at the Tulfo-led Blue Ribbon Committee’s flood control investigation on Monday. 

The 18 “bodyguards”, and their counsel, Atty. Levito Balingod was invited to the inquiry for a supposed face-off with panel chairperson Erwin Tulfo, whom they implicated in the kickback scheme.

The party received the invitation,  but no details were provided for their absence, according to the committee secretary.

According to Tulfo, the “bodyguards” snubbed the hearing held at the session hall on the second floor, even though they were only at the office of Senator Robin Padilla on the fifth floor.

Prior to this, Senate President Alan Cayetano warned them over the weekend that the Tulfo-led Monday hearing was not authorized by his leadership, insisting that he still retains the chamber’s top post and controls the institution despite a supposed coup last week.

As a result, Cayetano said they could not guarantee procedural safeguards and protection accorded to witnesses. 

Also no-shows were former House speaker Martin Romualdez and Reps. Zia Adiong, Jose Alvarez, Jam Baronda, and Leila de Lima, citing parliamentary courtesy. 

The House lawmakers were also implicated in the supposed kickback scheme, allegedly derived from anomalous flood control projects. 

Co’s bodyguards alleged that they delivered the money stuffed in a suitcase to the respective residences of lawmakers—an allegation vehemently denied by the latter.

Aside from them, President Marcos Jr. and Senators Tito Sotto and Ilocos Rep. Sandro Marcos are also accused of receiving massive kickbacks, along with several other lawmakers allied with the administration. 

Opposition figures like former senator Sonny Trillanes, and former Reps. Arlene Brosas, France Castro, and Raoul Manuel of the Makabayan bloc were also recipients of the kickback, as alleged by the so-called “Marines” on Thursday.

Cayetano’s faction pushed through with the hearing last week despite opposition from the Gatchalian-led majority bloc, which said they no longer have the authority to do so following the leadership revamp that effectively stripped them of committee chairmanships. 

Tulfo, in his opening speech, denounced last week’s probe convened by Cayetano and allies, deriding it as “illegitimate,” or a mere “press conference” conducted outside established Senate rules and institutional processes.

“Simply put, it was not a legitimate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing…It was irregular, a ‘hao shao’, a make-believe investigation masquerading as an official Senate proceeding,” he asserted. 

Tulfo strongly dismissed the allegations that he received cash-filled suitcases as “unfounded” and “hearsay,” aimed at discrediting his credibility to undermine the so-called “legit” flood control probe under his watch.

“We will not allow anyone to just come to this committee to make all sorts of claims without any evidence or witnesses who will suddenly appear, and then disappear the next day,” he pointed out. 

The credibility of the “bodyguards” was put into question after the Armed Forces of the Philippines disowned several of them, while the majority had been dishonorably discharged. 

The AFP also claimed that the group was no longer in the service at the time of the alleged deliveries, further raising suspicions that it was fabricated stories to sow discord and destabilize the administration.

The group previously denied receiving P5 million each in bribes from Defensor, as alleged by the NBI, to make the “fictitious” testimonies, a repeat of their February affidavit. 

Acting Senate President Win Gatchalian and allies remained headstrong that the testimonies of the “bodyguards” had no binding effect, arguing that the hearing last week was fake and therefore, not entered into the Senate records.