Beyond the PHP100 Billion Suitcases

Zaldy Co’s video exposé, alleging PHP100 billion in budget insertions and suitcases of cash delivered to the highest offices in the land, is the kind of political theater that stops a nation in its tracks. It is explosive, specific, and deeply cynical. It is also, upon closer inspection, a case study in why “trial by social media” is a threat to the very accountability it pretends to serve.

Before any investigation can begin, the allegations are fatally undermined by the man delivering them. Co’s narrative is riddled with self-defeating flaws. He presents photos of cash deliveries in early 2024, yet claims they were for budget insertions finalized in December 2024. This glaring timeline discrepancy remains unaddressed. His original “witness,” Orly Guteza, has vanished after the authenticity of his affidavit’s signature was “disputed.”

Most damning, however, is Co’s own history. He insists he “did not benefit” from the PHP100 billion, yet this is a man whose PHP4.7 billion in air assets are frozen and whose company, Sunwest Construction, bagged PHP86 billion in contracts under the Rodrigo Duterte administration. Co is not an outsider whistleblower; he is a master of the very system he now decries.

If this is not a genuine “attack of conscience,” what is it? It is a transparent salvo in the escalating political war between rival elite factions. Co, an oligarch whose wealth was cemented under the Duterte administration, is now launching a “political hit” against the current Marcos-Romualdez power bloc. His exposé is not a quest for truth but a weaponized narrative. The Filipino people are not the beneficiaries of this revelation; we are merely the spectators in a high-stakes battle between two camps fighting over the spoils of the state.

This is where we must draw the line. As the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) rightly stated, “Public declarations on social media… cannot take the place of formal testimony.” This video provides “conjecture, not clarity,” and risks being exploited for “political manipulation.”

The allegations are, depressingly, plausible. Not because Co is credible, but because our budget system is so broken that we can imagine PHP100 billion insertions. But the solution is not to indulge in political theater that corrodes our institutions.

The solution is twofold. First, if Zaldy Co is serious, he must heed the CBCP’s call: return to the country, present his “records,” and file formal charges with the Ombudsman. Second, we must demand a solution to the system that makes these claims believable. The problem is the opaque bicameral conference committee, where such insertions are born. We need radical transparency in the budget process, not just a front-row seat to the latest political feud.

Justice requires due process, not a viral video.