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Zaldy Co is certainly one of many individuals most educated in regards to the price range fiasco. However is he actually the reluctant confederate he claims to be?
MANILA, Philippines – Zaldy Co lastly broke his silence after months of being dragged into the flood management scandal by linking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to 100 billion pesos in price range insertions on the bicameral convention committee.
Co is certainly one of many individuals most educated in regards to the price range fiasco. Quite a few personalities — Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, Roberto Bernardo, and Orly Guteza — have name-dropped him.
However is he actually the reluctant confederate he claims to be?
Previous to coming into elective workplace, he constructed Sunwest, a most popular Division of Public Works and Highways contractor, and whose fortunes soared increased when he turned Home appropriations chairman in 2022.
Price range specialists consider he stays a helpful proprietor regardless of his divestment.
Other than its house area Bicol, Sunwest acquired billions of pesos in contracts in Jap Visayas, significantly Leyte, the bailiwick of his once-ally Martin Romualdez.
Even the enterprise of Hello-Tone, the corporate based by his brother, flourished throughout Co’s time as congressman.
He was eliminated — though he claimed he resigned — as appropriations chairman in January 2025, solely weeks after Marcos vetoed P194 billion in tasks within the 2025 nationwide price range, which critics described as closely mangled.
Co has been in and in another country since then. He nonetheless campaigned in-person for Ako Bicol within the 2025 elections, however he stated he had gone in another country someday in July, earlier than the State of the Nation Handle.
He turned the face of presidency corruption outrage over the general public works fiasco, which boiled over into days of anti-government protests, the biggest that the nation has seen in years.
He determined to resign from Congress after refusing to face calls from new Speaker Bojie Dy — who revoked his journey clearance — to go house.
The Marcos administration, which Co was allied with, seems keen to desert him. The Division of Public Works and Highways has even requested the Anti-Cash Laundering Council to freeze the air belongings of Misibis Aviation, an organization co-owned by Co.
Co claimed there are severe threats to his life, and in his first video assertion, alleged that Marcos and Romualdez are framing him to be “the poster boy of their very own lies.”
Be a part of the Philippine politics chat room of the Rappler app for extra updates on Co and the flood management corruption scandal. – Rappler.com
