Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's administration is boosting efforts to hold to account those involved in the multi-billion-dollar graft scandal surrounding flood-control projects. -- PHOTO: AFP
MANILA (Bloomberg): Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said a resigned lawmaker who accused him of pocketing funds meant for flood infrastructure should return home, prove the allegations, and face his own charges.
"For it to mean something, he should come home, face his charges. If there’s something he wants to say, say it,” Marcos said at a briefing on Monday. "Why are you hiding far away? I’m not hiding. If you have an accusation against me, I’m here.”
The Philippine leader on Friday ordered the swift arrest of former Congressman Zaldy Co and 17 others tagged in the graft scheme. Marcos said earlier Monday that seven suspects tied to the corruption scandal are now in the custody of authorities, while efforts are underway to arrest those who are still at large, including Co.
Co, in a video posted on his Facebook account, doubled down on his earlier accusation that Marcos received kickbacks from 100 billion pesos ($1.7 billion) of project spending the president had allegedly ordered to be included in the 2025 budget. Marcos’ office had called Co’s allegations "propaganda.”
In another video released Monday, Co said that from 2022 to 2025, he arranged for as much as 56 billion pesos in kickbacks from flood-control projects to be given to Marcos and Congressman Martin Romualdez. "What Romualdez himself told me was that he and President Marcos would split that money,” Co said in the video.
Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos who earlier stepped down as speaker of the House of Representatives, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Romualdez earlier rejected Co’s allegations against him, saying his "conscience remains clear.”
"Anyone can go online and make all kinds of claims and say all kinds of things, over and over again. But it means nothing,” Marcos said in response to Co’s latest allegations. "Prove it. But come home.”
The Marcos administration is strengthening efforts to hold to account those involved in the multibillion-dollar graft mess surrounding flood-control projects in one of the world’s most typhoon-prone countries.
The scandal, which Marcos first exposed in July, has ignited public anger, caused economic growth to slow sharply in the third quarter and has weakened both the peso and stocks. Last week, two of Marcos’ cabinet secretaries were replaced as the government moves to restore public trust and investor confidence.
The president warned those accused to surrender to authorities and face the charges leveled at them. Those who will try to coddle them would answer to authorities for protecting any "fugitive from justice,” he said.
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