In the shadowy, high-stakes world of Philippine politics, silence is often a currency, and loyalty is a fragile shield. For months, the nation has been gripped by a sprawling investigation into billions of pesos in allegedly anomalous flood control projects. The anti-corruption drive, championed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself, had a face—a “poster boy” for the supposed rot within the system.

That face was Zaldy Co, a businessman, Ako Bicol Party-list representative, and a man who, until recently, was a powerful political ally.

Then, he vanished.

As the government’s crackdown intensified, Co disappeared from the country, his name becoming synonymous with the very corruption he was once accused of. He was a man in exile, a fugitive from justice, spotted by netizens in the cafes of Spain and Portugal. The Department of Justice requested an Interpol Blue Notice. He was, by all accounts, the primary villain.

Now, from that very exile, Zaldy Co has broken his silence. And the story he tells is not one of guilt, but of spectacular, high-level betrayal.

In a “tell-all” video that has sent shockwaves through the nation, Co has painted a devastating picture of conspiracy, obedience, and high-level corruption that does not end with him—it begins, he alleges, at the very top.

He claims he was not a fugitive, but a political exile. He alleges he was not the mastermind, but the scapegoat. And he insists he was not acting alone, but under the direct orders of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and, most explosively, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.

This is the story of a man striking back from the shadows, armed with “receipts,” names, and a narrative so damning it threatens to capsize the entire administration. At the center of it all? A mysterious brown leather bag, allegedly held by the President, containing a list of projects that would siphon billions from the nation’s coffers.

Chapter 1: The “Poster Boy” Breaks His Silence
Zaldy Co’s video is not a plea for mercy. It is a declaration of war.

After months of public anticipation and anger directed squarely at him, Co finally addressed the Filipino people, his face a mixture of exhaustion and cold fury. He began by acknowledging the public’s anger but urged them not to judge him prematurely. He promised to expose everything, to name every name, and to explain why he, a sitting congressman, had not returned to the Philippines.

The reason, he claims, is chilling.

“I received a direct order from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. not to return to the country,” Co stated, setting the explosive tone for his entire revelation.

He details his departure on July 19, 2025, for what he says was a legitimate medical checkup. He had fully intended to return after the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). But then, he alleges, the call came.

It was from Martin Romualdez, his political ally and the House Speaker. The message was simple: “Stay away. Remain silent. We will take care of you.”

“I was quick to believe my political allies,” Co said, his voice heavy with regret. He complied. He stayed away, watching from afar as the political tide in the Philippines turned violently against him.

He watched as the President launched a public, high-profile anti-corruption drive. He watched as the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) referred 37 individuals to the Ombudsman. He watched as PBBM went on television, promising that the guilty “won’t have a Merry Christmas.”

And he watched as his own name became the primary target.

The realization, Co says, was deeply hurtful. “I later realized I was being used as a ‘poster boy’ to cover up the administration’s fight against corruption.”

He was not being protected; he was being framed. He was the designated fall guy, the sacrifice offered up to prove the administration was “tough on crime,” while the real masterminds, he alleges, were the ones holding the press conferences.

“I will no longer remain silent,” he vowed. His loyalty, it seems, had found its breaking point.

Chapter 2: “What the President Wants He Gets”
Co’s testimony then pivots from his personal betrayal to the mechanics of the crime itself. He pulls back the curtain on how a national budget is allegedly manipulated.

It began, he recounts, at the end of a BYCAM meeting. DBM Secretary Amen Pangandaman, he claims, casually informed him of the President’s plan: to introduce a staggering Php100 billion in projects into the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

A sum that large, inserted so brazenly, was a shock. Pangandaman, Co alleges, directed him to confirm the order with the Undersecretary of the Office of the Executive Secretary, Adrian Bersamin, who was also present.

Co did as he was told. After confirming with Bersamin, he approached Martin Romualdez.

This is where Co delivers his first damning quote. When he raised the issue of the massive insertion, Romualdez allegedly gave him a simple, chilling five-word answer that explained everything about the power dynamic they operated under:

“What the President Wants He Gets.”

There was no debate. There was no discussion of legality or propriety. It was, according to Co, a simple statement of fact. The order had been given, and it was to be followed.

This single line paints a picture of an administration where legislative and budgetary processes are a mere formality, and the will of one man, the President, is absolute. Co was not being asked to participate; he was being given his marching orders.

Chapter 3: The Brown Leather Bag
What happened next, as recounted by Co, feels like a scene from a political thriller. A meeting was set. It was not in a public office or a boardroom, but in the historic Aguado building of the Malacañang Palace.

In the room, Co claims, were himself, Martin Romualdez, and, curiously, Justice Undersecretary Jojo Cadis.

It was here, Co alleges, that he received the specifics. He was handed a list. This list, he claims, came directly from President Marcos Jr. himself.

And it was delivered in a “brown leather bag.”

This is not a throwaway detail. Co leans into the significance of this bag, transforming it from a simple accessory into a symbol of the President’s personal and direct involvement.

Co recalls a moment after the May 2022 elections, a small, private comment from PBBM that now, in hindsight, seems terrifyingly significant. The President had allegedly said, “Leave everything else, just not the brown leather bag.”

It was the President’s personal ledger, Co implies. And from this bag, a list of projects and, crucially, a list of pre-selected contractors, was given to him.

This allegation is the core of Co’s “tell-all.” It bypasses everyone else. It bypasses Romualdez, bypasses Pangandaman, and places the alleged list of corrupt deals, the “receipts” of the crime, directly into the hands of the President.

Chapter 4: “The King’s Command Cannot Be Broken”
Co, an experienced party-list representative, understood the budget. He claims he knew that a Php100 billion insertion was too large and too obvious. It would completely dwarf the DPWH’s existing budget and be practically impossible to hide.

He says he went back, not to defy the order, but to suggest a more politically savvy way to execute it.

Co proposed a compromise: reduce the on-the-books amount to Php50 billion. The other half, he suggested, could be placed in the unprogrammed funds of the 2025 budget.

This is a critical detail. Unprogrammed funds are a notorious gray area in the national budget. They act as a discretionary pool of money, and as Co points out, “the Office of the President releases all unprogrammed funds.”

It was a strategy to make the corruption less visible, to move half of it into a presidential slush fund.

This, Co claims, led to the second, and most damning, direct order from the President.

When Co presented this plan, PBBM allegedly rejected it outright. His response, according to Co, was sharp and absolute:

“Ipasok niyo yan dahil naipangako na sa akin yan ni Speaker Martin at hindi na ito pwedeng baguhin.”

(Insert that because Speaker Martin already promised it to me, and it cannot be changed.)

This quote, if true, is a smoking gun.

It alleges not only that the President knew about the budget insertion, but that he was actively managing it. It implies he was angry that his “promised” amount was being questioned. It confirms, in Co’s narrative, that the Php100 billion figure (later reduced to Php50B) was his number, his promise, and his command.

“This proved to me,” Co said in his video, “that the king’s command cannot be broken.”

This direct allegation flies in the face of the President’s public statements. Co expressed his own “surprise” at PBBM’s denials, noting that DBM Secretary Pangandaman sought presidential approval for all budget changes. The idea that the President was unaware of a multi-billion-peso insertion, Co implies, is a political fantasy.

Chapter 5: The List and the “Merry Christmas” Irony
Zaldy Co’s video is labeled “part one,” a promise of more revelations to come. But he has already released his first set of “receipts.”

He posted a list of the projects allegedly ordered by the President. It is a sprawling, nationwide ledger of corruption, spanning districts in NCR, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The list also names the specific contractors who were allegedly pre-selected to receive these projects. Among them are Alpha and Omega General Contractor, Legacy Construction, LRTK Builders, MG Samidan Construction, and Wawa Builders.

This is where the story gets even more damning.

Some of these very contractors are already listed on the sumbongsa pangulo.ph website, a public portal for reporting corruption. They are, as the source notes, among the top 15 contractors for flood control projects.

Co’s allegation is that the President was not only aware of these contractors, he was directing funds to them.

And all of this was happening against the backdrop of the most glaring, staggering hypocrisy.

As these alleged meetings were taking place, as the brown leather bag was being passed, as the billions were being inserted, President Marcos Jr. was on a media tour, championing his new anti-corruption drive.

He was the man who warned corrupt officials, “Wala silang Merry Christmas.”

He was the man who praised the ICI for its investigation and its referrals to the Ombudsman.

He was even the man who, when asked about Martin Romualdez, gave a politically careful answer: that Romualdez was “not yet included” in the referrals, but “if something else comes out, then he might be answerable for something.”

If Co’s allegations are true, this was not just a political statement. It was a dark, cynical, and manipulative piece of theater, performed by the very men who were allegedly pulling the strings.

Chapter 6: The Man on the Run, Silenced
Zaldy Co is now a man without a country and without a party. He resigned as the Ako Bicol Party-list representative on September 29, 2025. He is a political fugitive, and the government he once served is now actively hunting him.

But his attempt to be heard, even from exile, is being blocked at every turn.

The Senate, led by Blue Ribbon Committee Panel Chair Panfilo Lacson, has confirmed that Zaldy Co will not be allowed to testify via Zoom in the upcoming Senate investigation on November 14.

The official reason? Concerns that a remote, unsworn testimony could provide him a platform for “unsubstantiated claims or propaganda.”

But to Co’s supporters, the message is clear: The system is silencing him.

He is trapped. He is a fugitive on an Interpol Blue Notice, and the one body that could officially hear his testimony is refusing to let him speak.

His “tell-all” video is an act of desperation, a direct appeal to the public because, he claims, the official channels have been barricaded by the very people he is accusing.

We are now left with a political firestorm. This is no longer a simple case of a corrupt congressman. This is a direct accusation of high-level, orchestrated corruption, led by the President and his closest allies.

Is this the righteous, desperate act of a betrayed “poster boy,” a man who was loyal to a fault and is now fighting for his life? Or is it the calculated, vengeful propaganda of a guilty man, a “king’s” crony who is attempting to bring the whole kingdom down with him?

Zaldy Co has opened the brown leather bag for the entire nation to see. The Filipino people must now decide if it contains the truth, or just the dirty laundry of a fallen ally. And as Co himself has omin.ously promised, this is just “part one.”