Former lawmaker Mike Defensor, two of the 18 alleged ex-security aides of ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, and their counsel, Levito Balingod, were sued by Senator Erwin Tulfo on Wednesday for slander after repeating their kickback allegations during the 16 June press conference disguised as a “Blue Ribbon” flood control probe. 

This marks the second lawsuit Tulfo has filed in connection with the group’s scathing allegations that he received several suitcases stuffed with millions in kickbacks from flood control projects. 

The respondent “bodyguards” in the latest filing are named Jeron Valderama and Bernard Gumban. The latter was previously sued on 8 June over similar allegations.

The recent case was filed at the Mandaluyong City Prosecutor’s Office, with the additional respondents including Quezon City Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica, and lawyer Virgilio Garcia, a retired general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In an 18-page complaint, the lawmaker prayed that the court hold the respondents criminally liable for grave oral defamation or slander, punishable by more than two years of imprisonment, under Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to the Cyber Crime Prevention Act (RA 11075).

Tulfo argued that the “malicious imputation” of corruption and bribery uttered by the respondents against him on 16 June further “amplified the damage” they had previously caused on 4 June, during the “unauthorized” Blue Ribbon Committe’s investigation led by former Senate president Alan Cayetano and Senator Rodante Marcoleta. 

Tulfo and his allies derided the 4 June hearing as “bogus” since Cayetano, who convened the same, was already ousted, resulting in a leadership revamp that booted Senator Pia Cayetano out from the committee chairmanship in favor of Tulfo. 

In that hearing, Gumban and two more of his colleagues, who were also respondents to the first complaint filed by Tulfo on 8 June, alleged that they delivered several suitcases to the senators’ residence in Greenhills on two separate occasions.

The delivery allegedly involved two suitcases amounting to approximately P20 million to P50 million, while the second involved six suitcases in different sizes. 

Valderama uttered similar allegations on 16 June during the “press conference” led by Defensor at the Doublegem EDSA Garden Events Place, accusing Tulfo of receiving two medium-sized “maletas” filled with “illegal” cash from alleged anomalous flood control porojects ranging from P40 million to P50 million.

The event was originally introduced as the “Blue Ribbon probe,” or the continuation of the 4 June hearing, supposedly to be led by Cayetano and Marcoleta, though the senators were not present in the so-called flood control probe convened outside the Senate. 

The supposed delivery of the suitcases took place when Tulfo allegedly met Co at Mario’s Restaurant in Tomas Morato, Quezon City, when the senator was still a congressman.

“I cannot simply remain passive and act unaffected by these falsehoods. I also cannot disregard losing the trust given to me by the millions of people who voted for me in this office, if I will not do something to defend my honor and reputation,” the complaint reads.

Tulfo, a former journalist before assuming public office, argued that respondents cannot hide behind freedom of speech, which “does not allow people to just throw serious aspersions and disrepute against anybody, even if sound legal basis exists.”

In an ambush interview shortly after the filing, Tulfo doubled down on his criticism of the respondents, arguing that their allegations are entirely without merit. 

He contended that he was not a proponent of any kind of infrastructure projects, including flood control, even during his stint as a member of the House in the previous 19th Congress, to receive “kickbacks” from the same. 

The 18 bodyguards had repeatedly alleged that they delivered “maletas” to several members of Congress allied with President Marcos Jr. during their time serving as security aides of Co, who was when he was still the chair of the House appropriations panel in the last Congress.

The cash was allegedly obtained through kickbacks from ghost or substandard flood control projects.

The group's credibility, however, 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. The group, in response, denied receiving P5 million each in bribes from Defensor, as alleged by the NBI, to fabricate the “fictitious” testimonies, which was a repeat of their February affidavit. 

Marcoleta and Defensor are currently detained for plunder charges involving P75 million in alleged undeclared campaign donations in the 2025 polls.