The Marcos administration rejects ‘any insinuation’ about insertions within the 2025 finances, says Price range Secretary Amenah Pangandaman in a hastily-called press briefing hours after former ally Zaldy Co turns his weapons on Marcos himself
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Friday, November 14, dared President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s ally-turned-accuser Zaldy Co to return to the Philippines after the previous legislator accused the President of masterminding the insertion of P100 billion price of tasks within the 2025 finances.
A crew of three high authorities officers — Appearing Communications Secretary Dave Gomez, Price range Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, and Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro — took turns studying statements in a press briefing the place they denied Co’s allegations and sought to distance Marcos from the 2025 finances course of.
“These wild accusations are fully with out foundation in actual fact. All the costs leveled towards the President are pure rumour,” stated Gomez.
“Rep Zaldy Go ought to come again to the nation and signal all the things he stated beneath oath with the right judicial authorities,” he added.
Co, a contractor who crossed to politics and finally chaired the Home committee that deliberates on the nation’s finances, together with allocations for infrastructure tasks, launched a video noon Friday, claiming that Pangandaman had known as him at first of the bicameral convention committee deliberations for the 2025 finances in late 2024. Pangandaman supposedly informed Co that Marcos had orders to insert some P100 billion price of presidency tasks within the 2025 finances.
Pangandaman didn’t instantly tackle Co’s allegations or sequence of occasions however insisted that the manager has no function in bicameral deliberations, or when the 2 chambers of Congress reconcile any variations within the budgets they authorised.
“All appropriations ordered by the President are already within the Nationwide Expenditure Program. That’s the reason it’s known as the President’s Price range. So we reject any insinuations about it. The bicam is solely beneath the ability of the legislature. We respect and strictly observe the finances course of and all our actions are above board,” stated Pangandaman, who solely delivered an announcement and was not out there to take questions from the media.
Drama ensued earlier than end-2024, after Malacañang delayed the signing of the finances by over every week to “regain management” of the federal government’s spending program. Marcos, ultimately, vetoed P194 billion price of line gadgets that he deemed “inconsistent with the administration’s precedence packages.”
Shut ally turned accuser
In late 2024, Co was nonetheless a detailed ally of the administration and the flood management corruption scandal had but to erupt. He was faraway from the highly effective committee in early January 2025.
It was in July 2025 when Marcos unleashed what would develop into a Pandora’s Field when he known as out authorities officers and contractors who enriched themselves from non-existent or substandard flood management tasks and vowed to convey them to justice.
Months later, that decision out has dragged in an extended record of contractors and public officers, together with these as soon as or nonetheless allied with the President. Co, to this point, has been the primary and solely individual to implicate Marcos within the theft of funds from tasks by way of the finances course of.
Co additionally accused his shut ally and pal, presidential cousin and former Home speaker Martin Romualdez, of getting a hand within the alleged insertion of tasks.
Within the presser, Castro turned her weapons onto Co, accusing him of performing out of desperation. “Dahil lumiliit na ang mundo ni Zaldy Co, kailangan niyang umiwas at iiwas ang sarili at magazine namedrop kahit walang katibayan at laway lang ang puhunan,” she stated.
(As a result of his world is getting smaller, he must dodge and save himself, and to namedrop even with out proof and simply all discuss.)
Castro added, “Para masagip ang sarili sa paratang ng pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan at mapalitaw na siya ang biktima, siya ay magtatahi ng maling kuwento laban sa ibang tao.”
(To avoid wasting himself from allegations of corruption and to make it appear to be he’s the sufferer, he’s weaving lies towards different folks.)
The day prior, Marcos known as for his personal press convention the place he touted the supposed good points, to this point, within the administration’s efforts to uncover and persecute corruption tied not simply to flood management tasks however authorities infrastructure spending.
In that presser, Marcos reckoned these prone to face instances associated to corruption would see jail time by Christmas, not less than. But Marcos averted instantly answering whether or not he thought-about Co to be probably the most responsible within the corruption scandal, whereas promising that the federal government would cancel the Bikolano legislator’s passport as soon as instances are filed towards him.
Almost 4 months after his State of the Nation Tackle, no legal or administrative instances associated to the ground management corruption mess have been filed. Marcos had stated that the federal government needs to construct hermetic instances to make sure the conviction of individuals implicated within the flood management mess.
Through the Palace briefing Marcos press secretary Gomez reminded the general public that it was Marcos himself who “uncovered all these flood management anomalies and has taken quite a few steps since to make sure that the responsible are dropped at justice, the stolen wealth recovered and the system is fastened to keep away from any of this from occurring once more.” – Rappler.com
