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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider ICI says 'no comment' to Zaldy Co's exposé vs Marcos

ICI says 'no comment' to Zaldy Co's exposé vs Marcos

Published Nov 14, 2025 02:24 pm

At A Glance

  • The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the body established upon President Marcos himself, said on Friday, Nov. 14, that it was withholding any comments regarding former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co's implication of the Chief Execitive in alleged P100-billion budget insertions on infrastructure projects.
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the body established upon President Marcos himself, said on Friday, Nov. 14, that it was withholding any comments regarding former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co's implication of the Chief Execitive in alleged P100-billion budget insertions on infrastructure projects.
"The commission is still carefully reviewing and studying what was divulged during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee as well as in the alleged video of former Cong. Zaldy Co, before weighing in on any action or statement. Thank you," ICI Executive Director Brian Hosaka told reporters when pressed for the body's comment on the video.
Hosaka's short statement came after Co on Friday finally broke his silence amid allegations that he received billions worth of kickbacks in "ghost" and substandard flood control projects across the country.
The ICI official's remarks also came amid the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's resumption of its own probe into the anomalous flood control projects, wherein former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan district engineers dragged even more names into the controversy.
For his part, Co implicated not only Marcos but also the President's cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, in the flood control project mess.
Co claimed he was ordered not to return to the country by Romualdez, and that it was Marcos who ordered him to make the insertions in the 2025 national budget.
Co served as House Committee on Appropriations chairman during the previois 19th Congress. It is the panel that primarily crafts the national budget measure.
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