Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco on Monday, September 8 said it was former House appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co who was the proponent of the P13.8-billion insertions in the 2025 national budget.

Testifying at the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the anomalous government flood control projects, Tiangco claimed that the P13.8-billion were all linked to flood control items.

Tiangco presented to the committee files from a flash drive that the House of Representatives refused to entertain during their September 2 inquiry on the same controversy.

Asked by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, chairman of the blue ribbon panel, if Co was the sole proponent, Tiangco replied in the affirmative.

According to Tiangco, most of the congressman he asked about it denied that they made request for flood control funds. 

“So I didn’t ask anymore if it was ‘parked’ or ‘forced upon.’ What I’m simply saying is that’s what I saw,” Tiangco said. 

“If I requested it, I should be the proponent and it should be in my congressional district. Because you will wonder if those don’t match,” he said. 

Prior to this, Tiangco explained that some legislators have a habit of temporarily putting their budget insertions in other congressional districts.

This, he said resulted to a bloated allocation, citing it could be “parked” or “railroaded” (sagasa).

“Parking, means you appealed to a district congressman, and he agreed. When it’s railroaded, you have no choice but to accept it,” he said.