House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos on Tuesday disputed allegations made by former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co that he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered P50 billion in insertions in the 2025 national budget. In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Marcos described Co as spreading false information aimed at destabilizing the government. "Let us not be fooled by this man," Marcos said. In his first set of videos released last November 14, Co accused President Marcos, former cabinet members, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of ordering P100 billion in budget insertions, including funds for infrastructure projects. Co also cited instructions from former Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and alleged that money was delivered in luggage to Marcos and Romualdez. However, Co’s statements have been questioned even by critics of the administration. Marcos called Co "the newly crowned champion of the DDS [diehard Duterte supporters] cabal" and said the former lawmaker is leveraging political chaos to evade legal troubles. "Anyone can sit in front of a camera from abroad and spew lies," he said. He also rejected Co’s claim that he was removed as chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations in January 2025 due to the majority leader’s personal anger. "The decision was made collegially by Congress after members 'caught wind of his insatiable greed and corruption,'" Marcos said. "The 'sagasa' [misappropriations] he orchestrated in certain districts speak for themselves." Two academic experts noted that the President could have authorized insertions himself if he wanted, calling some of Co’s claims flawed. Zaldy Co is not a journalist or a truth crusader. He is a criminal evading justice.
