Lawyer Levi Baligod continues to vouch for the supposed 18 Marine-bagmen whom he claimed facilitated "cash luggage" deliveries to politicans upon the order of President Marcos.

This, even after the Philippine Navy on Wednesday, Feb. 25 said that four of the 18 men were actually not Marines, and that most of the rest had been dishonorably discharged.

Asked in an online interview if he thinks the tag of being "dishonorably discharged" would affect the bagmen's credibility as witnesses, Baligod said it may be too early for such assessment.

"That is too early for now for me to comment on that, on credibility. Pero nakita niyo naman po, ang daming taga-media, ang daming taga-Kongreso, ang daming taga-Senado na naniniwala nga sila sa testimony ng mga convicts, no? Nasa kulungan na, pero pinapaniwalaan yung kanilang sinasabi," he said, apparently alluding to congressional hearings of years past wherein inmates' testimonies were heard.

(But as you saw, there were so many from the media, from Congress, and from the Senate who actually believed the testimony of the convicts. They’re already in prison, yet their words are still being taken as credible.)

It was Baligod who led the press conference Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Club Filipino, San Juan City wherein he presented the 18 men who were allegedly co-workers of Orly Guteza.

Guteza, an alleged former security officer of resigned Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, served as a witness to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's inquiry last year on the flood control projects corruption scandal and was the first to claim the cash luggage deliveries.

The Baligod presser supposedly confirmed Guteza's claims, and pointed to Marcos as the alleged mastermind.

Pressed in the interview if he vouches for the bagmen's credibility, the lawyer answered, "Yes."

"I started meeting them in October, I vetted what they said, and that is why it took me about three months before I finalized their affidavit. Because I had to verify their statements with their other co-workers who did not come out as of this time," he said.

Baligod claimed that all in all, he spoke to 30 former security details of Co, who served as House Committee on Appropriations chairman during the previous 19th Congress. 

"Eventually we all agreed that they have to come out with what they know with respect to apparent theft of public funds going to several public officials," he said.