Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Rep. Elizaldy Co on September 14, 2022. Press and Public Affairs Bureau handout/File

Article (news)

Rep. Elizaldy Co on September 14, 2022. Press and Public Affairs Bureau handout/File 

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17617449184941761744916503.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Rep. Elizaldy Co on September 14, 2022. <em>Press and Public Affairs Bureau handout/File </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Zaldy Co, the former appropriations committee chair who resigned as a representative of Ako Bicol party-list in late September, allegedly had suitcases of money delivered to a house he owned in a gated subdivision in Pasig City that served only as storage for cash, according to an interim report by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure.</p><p>The ICI report is based on testimonies by former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, who also submitted affidavits to the panel. The ICI has referred its interim report and recommendations to the Office of the Ombudsman.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/29/-ici-recommends-raps-vs-jinggoy-villanueva-co-other-execs-over-flood-control-scandal-1206"><strong>ICI recommends criminal, admin raps vs Villanueva, Estrada, Co, other execs over flood control scandal<br/></strong></a></div><p>Co, who has yet to return to the country and whom the ICI has issued subpoenas to twice, has denied the allegations.</p><p>He resigned as a member of the House in September after Speaker Faustino Dy III revoked his travel authority and ordered  him to return to the Philippines.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>KICKBACKS OF 25 PERCENT</strong></div><p>Alcantara said that he initially met Co at a party in 2021 to discuss funding for infrastructure projects, “and between 2022 to 2025, Cong. Zaldy became a proponent to the projects of [Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office] which resulted to about 426 flood control projects in the total amount of P35.024 [billion].”</p><p>He said Co had demanded kickbacks of 25 percent of the contract price, which Alcantara took from contractors who, he said, did not know where the money would go.</p><p>“The sums allocated for Cong. Zaldy would be brought to Engr. Alcantara who then later brought it to ‘Alyas Paul’ and ‘Alyas Mark’,” the ICI report reads.</p><p>Hernandez said he prepared the cash deliveries with the help of Paul Duya, Carlo Rivera, Arjay Domasig and Justine Nuevo.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/25/suitcases-of-money-delivered-to-romualdez-zaldy-co-houses-staff-1118"><strong>Suitcases of money delivered to Romualdez, Zaldy Co houses: staff<br/></strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>UP TO 18 ALLEGED DELIVERIES OF CASH</strong></div><p>Deliveries were allegedly made at the parking area of Shangri-La Hotel in Taguig or to a house that Co owned in Valle Verde 6 in Pasig City, with the cash transported in boxes and pieces of luggage.</p><p>Orly Guteza, who introduced himself as Co&#x27;s former security consultant, made <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/25/suitcases-of-money-delivered-to-romualdez-zaldy-co-houses-staff-1118">similar allegations at a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in September</a> but said the deliveries were made to other properties he said Co owned.</p><p>According to the ICI report, P50 million could fit in a large piece of luggage while a smaller one could hold between P30 million and P40 million.</p><p>“On each delivery, they would utilize at least seven vehicles containing five to six large pieces of luggage,” Hernandez alleges in the ICI report.</p><p>“One delivery would sometimes entail two to three trips to complete,” it also reads.</p><p>Hernandez said two to five deliveries were made to Co in 2022, with another three to four — one to Shangri-La and two to three to Valle Verde 6 — made in 2023. The five to six deliveries to Co in 2024 were to the Valle Verde 6 address.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/28/ici-issues-fresh-subpoena-to-ex-ako-bicol-rep-zaldy-co-1552"><strong>ICI issues fresh subpoena to ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co<br/></strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;VALLE VERDE HOUSE ONLY USED TO STORE CASH&#x27;</strong></div><p>“In the first quarter of 2025, Engr. Hernandez made his last delivery of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure, or kickback) at the Valle Verde address,&quot; the ICI report reads. </p><p>&quot;This was also the instance where he discovered that the said house was exclusively used as a storage of the cash deliveries made to Cong. Co as there was no furniture inside, only pieces of luggage coming from different sources.&quot;</p><p>The ICI said Co may be liable for Direct or Indirect Bribery and Corruption of Public Officials, Corruption of Public Officers, and Plunder for the alleged kickback scheme.</p>

<p>The ICI report is based on testimonies by former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, who also submitted affidavits to the panel.</p>

The ICI report is based on testimonies by former Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, who also submitted affidavits to the panel.

‘P50M per large suitcase’: ICI details alleged kickback deliveries to Zaldy Co

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‘P50M per large suitcase’: ICI details alleged kickback deliveries to Zaldy Co

Jonathan de Santos,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 29, 2025 09:56 PM PHT

Read More:

Zaldy Co

Independent Commission for Infrastructure

Henry Alcantara

Brice Hernandez

corruption

flood control

kickbacks

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