Solon says Zaldy Co's allegations not authenticated, insufficient for Marcos impeachment

Former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co's allegations against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. weren't enough for the House Committee on Justice to find the impeachment complaint sufficient in substance, a vice chairman of the panel said on Friday.

Bukidnon Rep. Keith Flores said he would have voted for the sufficiency in substance of the complaint if Co's accusations, made in a series of videos posted on social media, were backed by a sworn statement.

"I even told the chairman that I might vote for sufficiency in substance as far as this ground is particularly concerned because there is a recital of facts," Flores told reporters.

"If only he were here, or if only there were a sworn statement by him. I am speaking here for myself. But, there was no attestation or authentication by Mr. Zaldy Co,” he added.

Flores indicated that adopting allegations that weren't made under oath in impeachment proceedings would set a precedent.

"It will open the floodgates for anyone outside who will just post a video against any impeachable officer. We cannot let that be the standard for an impeachment complaint,” Flores said.

“We cannot accept mere conclusions such as corruption or that he received so much money when these are based on not authenticated or not attested videos,” he added.

For House Deputy Minority Leaders Leila de Lima of ML party-list, Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list and Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers party-list, Co’s allegations of the President’s direct involvement in corruption are already enough to find the impeachment raps sufficient in substance.

They indicated that the complainants were not yet required to present evidence at this stage of the impeachment proceedings.

“The allegation is about his direct personal involvement in budgetary insertions and kickback schemes. This is the strongest ground among the allegations because Congressman Co’s statements were corroborated by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo in the Senate," De Lima said.

"Zaldy Co said it was the President himself who asked him to make a P100 billion worth of budget insertion,” she added.

Diokno said the determination of sufficiency in substance does not involve looking into the truth of the allegations.

“Under the threshold requirement, we simply assume that these allegations are true for the purpose of determining whether the complaint is sufficient in substance," Diokno said.

"And I respectfully submit that given that standard, that these allegations are assumed to be true, the complaint insofar as the third ground is concerned does satisfy the threshold standard of sufficiency in substance," he added.

“I believe Zaldy Co must face our proceedings so the Committee and the public can test the credibility of his allegations," Diokno said.

Tinio backed de Lima and Diokno, saying that Co’s disturbing allegations were not made by a lone wolf.

“The recitation of facts is based on the statements of Zaldy Co, but that is not the sole basis of the charge that the President directly participated in insertions and kickbacks. There is also the cited sworn testimony of Usec Bernardo," Tinio said.

"And in this case, Usec Bernardo is right here, has appeared numerous times before the Senate, and corroborated what Zaldy Co said,” he added.

“There is a clear, factual recitation of fact-based on public records and sworn testimony,” Tinio said.

Flores, however, was firm that stating accusations is not enough to tow the impeachment complaints to the next stage. 

"The impeachment complaint must be true and correct based ontheir personal knowledge. We already know that Congressman Zaldy Co is not here, and probably won't be able to validate the statements made on the video," Flores said. –NB, GMA Integrated News