Marcos accuses Zaldy Co lawyer of ‘blackmail’

MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, November 26, claimed that a lawyer of his erstwhile ally, resigned Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co, tried to “blackmail” him to prevent the cancellation of the embattled former lawmaker’s passport. 

“Meron po akong ibabanggit sa inyo. Nilapitan po kami ng abogado ni Zaldy Co at nagtatangkang mag-blackmail na kung hindi po namin kakanselahin daw ang passport niya, hindi na raw siya maglalabas ng video. I do not negotiate with criminals – kahit maglabas ka na ng video ng lahat ng kasinungalingan mo na pag-destabilize sa gobyerno,” said Marcos in a recorded video released to the public. 

(I have something to tell you. A lawyer of Zaldy Co approached us and tried to blackmail us by saying that if we do not cancel his passport, he will stop releasing videos. I do not negotiate with criminals – even if you release all the videos of the lies you tell to destabilize the government.) 

“Gusto kong malaman mo Zaldy makakansela pa rin ang passport mo. Hindi ka na makakatakas sa hustisya,” Marcos added. 

(I want you to know, Zaldy, that your passport will still be cancelled. You cannot run away from justice.)

In a statement to media, Co’s lawyer, Ruy Rondain, said Marcos’ claims were “completely untrue.”

“I have not spoken with anyone from the government to negotiate the stoppage of the videos for the passport. As I have have always maintained, I have no control over the release of the videos,” he said.

On Tuesday, November 25, Marcos dared Co to return home, following the release of another video in which he accused the President and his cousin, former House speaker Martin Romualdez, of getting kickbacks from government projects. In his latest video, also released on social media, Co claimed that presidential son, House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, also inserted projects in the national budget. 

The Marcoses, Malacañang, and Romualdez have denied Co’s allegations. 

Co once chaired the powerful House appropriations committee, which handles the deliberations on the national budget. Co is also linked to companies which bagged government project contracts amounting to billions of pesos. He is the subject of arrest warrants, alongside several others, over an allegedly anomalous flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. 

The former lawmaker has been out of the country since congressional probes into allegedly anomalous flood control projects started. Co has since resigned from Congress and has yet to return to the Philippines. 

Marcos had earlier said Co’s passport would be cancelled once a court issues an order. — Rappler.com