Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, I rise today on a matter of personal and collective privilege.
As chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, I have been subject of criticisms for not scheduling the 18 ex-military personnel who faced the media in an organized press conference at the historic Club Filipino on the eve of the 40th (anniversary of the) EDSA People Power Revolution to be called and testify before your Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations.
During the said press conference last February 24, these 18 individuals made claims on their supposed knowledge as former security personnel of one of the key personalities in the flood control scandal, former Rep. Zaldy Co.
To be clear, while every imputation of a crime warrants our attention, none deserves our blind deference. In the same manner that everyone has a right to be heard, it is not a license to mislead. Hence, while I reserve judgment on the merits of the testimonies, I am duty-bound to raise questions of logic and- at the very least — basic mathematics.
These are not intended to disparage the testimonies of the said individuals, but rather, ensure that proper evaluation of the credibility and reliability of both the source/sources of information and the information itself adhere to rational and logical standards of believability before we take appropriate action.
Siguradong bibigyang-kulay na naman ng mga trolls ang mga tanong na ito. Pero isipin na lang natin: kung magagamit ang mga nasabing alegasyon bilang instrumento ng propaganda o anumang motibo, hindi ba dapat ay logical at mathematically possible man lamang ang mga akusasyon?
If only for argument’s sake Mr. President, let us take the statement of Atty. Levi Baligod last weekend that the P805 billion in kickbacks did not come solely from flood control project appropriations, contrary to what was initially reported.
Let us consider the available variables that must inform our analysis, Mr. President.
As earlier computed by the late Senator Ramon Revilla Sr., and further corroborated by Mr. Curlee Discaya during one of our BRC hearings, one million pesos approximately weighs one kilogram. Basically, this means that the two executive assistants of Zaldy Co, assisted by 18 ex-military personnel and other unnamed personalities, received, unloaded, repacked and reloaded and moved 805,000 kilograms or 805 metric tons in paper bills over a certain period of time.
And this does not include yet the weight of the packages themselves. Thus we need to add around 53,600 kilograms or 53.6 metric tons, representing the combined weight of at least 13,400 large, empty ‘maletas’ or suitcases to accommodate P805 billion, with the assumption each was made of soft-sided nylon or polyester materials each weighing around four (4) kilograms.
Let’s try to imagine the processes involved in the preparation and distribution of this cash. Suppose that the executive assistants or trusted personnel of Zaldy Co, named Mark Ticsay and Paul Estrada, processed P500 million a day working 24/7, 365 days a year, including unloading, counting, repacking, loading, and delivering the money – this would take 5 ½ years or mid-2028 di pa sila tapos mag-deliver hanggang ngayon Mr. President, if they started in 2023; or mid-2027 if they started as early as the second semester of 2022 when then Cong. Zaldy Co took over the chairmanship of the HOR appropriations committee.
Relatedly, one may still ask how such huge sums of money were physically collected and delivered to the residence of former Congressman Co.
To move this much wealth at a limit of P500,000,000 per day, you would need to make 1,610 deliveries to Zaldy Co’s Valle Verde 6 residence or somewhere else. Unloading, unpacking, repacking, reloading and again delivering to different individual recipients. Even if they do it every single day of the year, it would take them 4.4 years to complete the deliveries.
We can only imagine the logistical nightmare involved in the magnitude of the operations of former Congressman Zaldy Co.
By the way, following the joint narrative of the 18 security personnel, magkano ang natirang kickback kay Zaldy Co? Zero? Was he just a messenger?
Nabanggit ng 18 security personnel sa kanilang affidavit na ang bahay ni Congressman Zaldy Co sa Valle Verde 6, Pasig City ay naging “bagsakan” ng cash kung saan din ginagawa nina Mark Ticsay, John Paul Estrada, at iba pang empleyado ang pagbibilang at pag-empake ng mga ito sa iba’t ibang lalagyan.
Since former Congressman Zaldy Co served as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee from July 2022 to January 2025, his supposed influence and access to the national budget – assuming he exercised full and unlimited control – were during the period 2023 and 2024, or for a full two years.
We are also saying here that P805 billion worth of paper bills were encashed from our bank reserves over the years.
According to the BSP, the total physical cash in 2024 – meaning the paper bills as well as coins that were currently held by the public and circulating in the economy, including those inside bank vaults, that year – stood at 2.7 trillion pesos.
That would mean that 400 billion or half of the 805 billion out of the 2.7 trillion pesos of physical cash of 114 million Filipinos passed through a single individual, equivalent to around 15% of the total physical cash, both in circulation and those kept in all the bank vaults.
Going back to the P805 billion in totality that was solely and exclusively at Zaldy Co’s disposal in 2023 and 2024, if we were to believe the 18 ex-soldiers, then those accumulated over the same period by personalities who are now facing plunder and other cases like former DPWH officials Roberto Bernardo, Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, etc., contractors, etc. must be factored in to compute the aggregate total of absconded monies from the 2023-2024 GAAs.
I raise these questions to ensure that the testimonies withstand established facts and logic before we even invite them to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Pray tell Mr. President, if their statements appear to be demonstrably false and physically impossible to accomplish, wouldn’t convening a hearing effectively validate and dignify disinformation?
That is my question. Thank you, Mr. President.
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