MANILA – In a bombshell escalation of the sprawling flood control corruption saga, resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co has turned his digital spotlight on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, accusing him of funneling at least P50 billion in pet projects into national budgets through backroom maneuvers. The fresh allegations, dropped in a fiery Facebook video Tuesday, come as Co – now a fugitive from graft charges – paints a picture of routine congressional sleight-of-hand, complete with threats and kickback cash, threatening to drag the Marcos dynasty deeper into the quagmire.
Co, the ousted Ako Bicol representative who’s been unleashing a torrent of videos from his undisclosed overseas hideout, didn’t hold back in naming Sandro for the first time. “Every year, as soon as we get to the bicam (bicameral conference committee) budget process, Congressman Sandro always has instructions to insert his projects [in the budget],” Co claimed, waving documents that allegedly detail the dirty math: P9.636 billion slipped in for 2023, P20.174 billion for 2024, and a whopping P21.127 billion for 2025. These “insertions” – tweaks to the Department of Budget and Management’s original spending blueprint – reportedly favor Sandro’s turf in Ilocos Norte’s first district, with roads, multipurpose halls, and flood controls popping up across provinces like Cebu, Tarlac, and even Oriental Mindoro.
The video, uploaded amid Co’s growing playlist of exposés that have already torched former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Malacañang insiders, alleges a high-stakes shakedown. Co claimed Sandro once warned him to prioritize P8 billion in uninserted projects because contractors had already forked over advance payments – or face removal and charges. “They threatened to remove and charge me,” Co fumed, framing it as a desperate bid to recoup laundered funds. It’s a narrative that’s roiled Manila’s political ponds, with Co’s clips racking up views while he dodges the long arm of the law.
Sandro fired back swiftly on his own Facebook page, dismissing the accusations as “fantastical” and “false” – nothing more than the desperate ravings of a man he’d branded the “newly crowned champion of the DDS (diehard Duterte supporters).” The president’s son didn’t pull punches, suggesting Co’s abroad not just to evade Sandiganbayan warrants for malversation and graft in a botched P289.5-million DPWH road dike fiasco, but to “destabilize the government” and cut deals with regime-change plotters. “His credibility is zero,” Sandro scoffed, insisting Co’s ouster was a House-wide call born of “insatiable greed and corruption,” not some familial vendetta.
The feud’s timing is explosive: Just hours after Co’s upload, progressive lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc – ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago, and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co – slapped down House Resolution No. 515, demanding a full-throated probe into Co’s claims alongside those from whistleblower Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo. Tinio didn’t mince words, voicing fears of a presidential cover-up amid Marcos’s self-proclaimed anti-graft crusade. “The public has the right to hear from all parties implicated,” he said, spotlighting halted probes that now snake all the way to the Palace. It’s a clarion call for transparency in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, where kickback whispers have grown to a roar.
This latest chapter in the “Trillion Peso” scandal – so named for the alleged trillions pilfered from flood defenses and public works – underscores a family feud with national stakes. Co’s videos, once dismissed as sour grapes from a cornered congressman, are now a viral thorn in the administration’s side, fueling weekend rallies and congressional side-eyes. For Sandro, it’s a baptism by fire into the brutal spotlight of dynastic politics; for Co, a high-wire act of hit-and-run accountability. As the Ombudsman sharpens its knives and the House gears up for hearings, one thing’s clear: In this game of budgetary poker, the Marcos hand is looking increasingly exposed. Will the chips finally fall, or will more “lies on cam” just fan the flames?