Former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co is willing to testify in the impeachment case being prepared against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., according to the complainants.
Speaking at a press conference, Mike Defensor said Co has agreed to serve as a witness to support and strengthen the impeachment complaint.
“In the case of congressman Zaldy Co, he is willing to be a witness. He is willing to testify to enhance the impeachment complaint we have filed,” Defensor said.
The complainants cited several grounds for impeachment, including issues surrounding the national budget and the detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which they described as “kidnapping.”
Co, a former chair of the influential House committee on appropriations, remains abroad after resigning from the House of Representatives in September last year. He has accused President Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez of receiving billions of pesos in alleged kickbacks, claims that have been repeatedly denied by those involved.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla earlier said Co remains at large, with his last reported location in Portugal, and that his passport has been canceled. Defensor, however, said Co is prepared to testify via teleconference.
The group’s attempt to file its impeachment complaint was turned away by Office of the Secretary General (OSG) executive director Jose Marmoi Salonga, who said Secretary General Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil was out of the country and that he lacked authority to receive the complaint in her absence.
Defensor said the group plans to file a case against the OSG as it weighs its next steps, including whether to refile the impeachment complaint.
“We are united—and this is a warning to the Office of the Secretary General—that we will file a case against the office,” he said.
Aside from Defensor, the complainants include former lawmaker Jacinto Paras, former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson, lawyers Ferdinand Topacio, Manuelito Luna, and Harold Respicio, and vlogger Mary Catherine Binag, who together filed the third impeachment complaint.
Separately, the Makabayan bloc also filed an impeachment complaint, focusing on the “BBM Parametric Formula,” or the Department of Public Works and Highways policy known as “Baselined-Balanced-Managed,” which uses the President’s initials.
Lawyer Andre de Jesus also filed the first impeachment complaint against President Marcos, endorsed by Pusong Pinoy party-list Rep. Jernie Jett Nisay.
