President Marcos has his basis in revealing that resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co has indeed blackmailed him over the ongoing investigation into flood control anomalies, Malacañang said.

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro maintained that Co, through his lawyer, has attempted to strike a deal with the President and stressed that Marcos has a basis in releasing his recent statement on the blackmail attempt.

"Ulitin po natin ang sinabi ng Pangulo: Nilapitan po kami ng abogado ni Zaldy Co at nagtatangkang mag-blackmail na kung hindi po namin kakanselahin daw ang passport niya, hindi na raw siya maglalabas ng video. I do not negotiate with criminals. 'Yan lang po ang ilan sa nasabi ng Pangulo noong nakaraang Miyerkules (Let us repeat what the President said: Zaldy Co’s lawyer approached us and attempted to blackmail us, saying that if we did not cancel his passport, he would no longer release the video. I do not negotiate with criminals. Those were some of the President’s statements last Wednesday)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Friday, Nov. 28.

"The President has his basis when he said those statements but as of I cannot make further discussion further than what the President said," Castro stressed.

The Palace official made the statement after Co's lawyer denied that he tried to blackmail Malacañang to prevent the cancellation of his client's passport.  

First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos would just shrug off the allegations made by Co against her, linking her to the rice and onion import anomalies.

"Kilala po natin ang First Lady kung paano pag-react sa mga negatibo na mga balita, mga kwentong walang basehan, magkikibit balikat lamang ang First Lady alam natin kasi at alam niya kung ano ang katotohanan at iyon may mga taong nagtatanggol at nagsasabi kung ano ba talaga ang nangyari  (We know how the First Lady reacts to negative news and baseless stories, she simply shrugs them off, because we know, and she knows, what the truth is. And there are people who defend her and tell what really happened)," Castro said.

Castro also pointed out that they are well aware of the motive behind the series of videos being released by Co on social media.

The Palace official also maintained that the President's appeal to Co to return home and prove his claims.

"Makikita naman natin kung ano talaga ang motibo dito, e. Sabi nga natin mas maganda po na kung meron siyang video, dapat lahatan para hindi unti-unti at nagagamot kung ano yung mga pagkakamali sa una, pangalawa, pangatlong video (We can clearly see what the real motive is here. As we said, if he has a video, it would be better if he released everything at once, so it would not be done little by little and corrected each time the first, second, or third video contains mistakes)," Castro said.

"At ang hamon nga ng Pangulo, muwi siya rito, sabihin niya lahat ng kanyang mga sinasabi, patunayan niya ang katotohanan na sinasabi niya dito sa bansa at manumpa siya na iyon ay katotohahan (And as the President challenged him: come home, say everything you’ve been claiming, prove the truth of what you are saying here in the country, and swear under oath that it is true)," Castro added.