Complainant in Marcos Jr. Impeachment Speaks on Zaldy Co amid his Alleged Willingness to Testify against PBBM
ZALDY CO
– The former House Budget Appropriations Committee Chairman was allegedly not allowed by the Senate to testify on the flood control scam.
Amid the flood control issue in the Philippines, both the Senate and the House of Representatives launched their own investigations to the supposed multi-billion corruption in the government. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also ordered the creation of an independent commission to investigate the infrastructure projects funded by the government.
The executive order led to the creation of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure or ICI. It was a three-member body led by former Justice Andres Reyes Jr.
House Speaker Bojie Dy claimed that the flood control investigation is best left in the hands of the ICI
. The lower chamber immediately stopped its flood control investigation.
Photo Courtesy of Inquirer
In the case of the Senate, a shakeup took place but the Blue Ribbon Committee continued its flood control investigation. The committee is now led by Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson.
📷: Rappler
Sen.
Ping Lacson previously claimed that the Senate will invite Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in the flood control probe
. The former House Speaker and the former House Budget Appropriations Committee Chairman are accused of alleged flood control corruption.
However, Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez did not appear even in just one Senate session over the flood control mess. The shakeup in the chamber also included a change in the Senate leadership from Sen. Chiz Escudero to now-Senate Pres. Tito Sotto.
Recently, one of the complainants behind the supposed third impeachment complaint against the President, Michael Defensor, claimed that
Zaldy Co allegedly wants to testify in the impeachment complaint against Marcos Jr.
“Noong malaman ni Zaldy Co na mag-file kami ng impeachment complaint at lalo’t malaman niya na binlock, he is willing to testify to enhance the impeachment complaint we had filed. Ang sabi niya noon nga sa Senate, ay gusto na niya sa Blue Ribbon Committee. Hindi siya pinayagan. Inaasahan niya, inaasahan namin na dito sa impeachment complaint ay papayagan siya mag-testify,”
Defensor claimed.
The House Secretary General’s Office allegedly did not accept the third impeachment complaint against Marcos Jr. According to the former partylist lawmaker, they will file a case against House Secretary Gen. Cheloy Garafil. Her office did not accept the impeachment complaint citing she’s in abroad to receive an award. Based on the
report
, lawyer Manuelito Luna who is also one of the complainants claimed that the move on the impeachment complaint is now in the hands of Garafil.
“We have already submitted a complaint in the constitutional sense. May constitutional violation si Secretary General Garafil. Whether we left a copy or not, we already tendered the submission of our complaint. Now the ball is in the hands of Garafil. And we will file charges against her,”
Luna said.
Amid the ongoing flood control investigation, Senator
JV Ejercito requested the Department of Justice (DOJ) to be more keen in choosing flood control witnesses