Kiko hints at slander raps vs Zaldy Co's 'bodyguards' over kickback insinuations

Senator Kiko Pangilinan won’t take the attempt of ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co’s former “security aides” to link him with the flood control corruption going unchallenged, warning that he would pursue legal action against them for slander.

Pangilinan was quick to defend himself against insinuations linking him to the scheme, calling the move a veiled effort to discredit him ahead of the creation of a Senate subpanel tasked to continue the allegations of systematic corruption on flood control projects.

Pangilinan argued that the timing was questionable, as it came almost simultaneously with the reports of his impending appointment as chair of the subpanel of the Blue Ribbon Committee.

“They just want to stain my reported appointment,” Pangilinan stressed. “The attempts to sully my character have no basis whatsoever.”

Pangilinan was not explicitly tagged as one of the lawmakers who allegedly received suitcases stuffed with cash from flood control projects.

Although a photo of him along with his celebrity wife, Sharon Cuneta, was presented by so-called “bagmen” of Co during the press conference on Tuesday as part of their supposed evidence that aims to corroborate the purported delivery scheme.

The photo showed that the couple was alongside Co’s alleged aides, but Cuneta claimed in a social media post that the same was taken after the May 2025 elections in Marawi and had nothing to do with the flood control kickbacks.

Pangilinan denounced the allegation as “all show,” warning that he will not take it sitting down.

“And because you, through your open forum about the suitcases allegedly linked to billions of pesos stolen from the public treasury, have implicated my family, you will now face something that is neither an insinuation, an allegation, nor a spectacle —in court. You will be held accountable for the slander you have committed,” he cautioned.