18 hours ago
1
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Jose Rodel Clapano - The Philippine Star
November 8, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co – who has been tagged as the mastermind in the insertions in the 2025 national budget – wants to correct the “skewed” stories about him that are meant to mislead the people, his legal counsel Ruy Rondain said on Thursday.
Citing separate personality law, Rondain said Co is not involved in the anomalies linked to the company that he is associated with.
He said Co told him that there is a need to correct the narrative against him.
“There is no whole narrative, because there is no time for me to explain the entire narrative. What he said was we have to calibrate, we have to correct the narrative, because it (was) so skewed, that the people were being misled,” Rondain told ANC.
He said people are using the term “insertions” and it gained the general belief that an insertion is illegal.
“I explained yesterday that it is not illegal… It has been there forever. The fact it’s been done, that automatically implied corruption,” Rondain said.
He said Co maintained that he did not receive any kickbacks.
“Part of my client’s narrative is that he didn’t receive any kickbacks as claimed by some alleged witnesses, and he did not commit any crime. The fact that he is being persecuted now indicates to me that prejudgment on his case has been made. Everything else in between would take a lot of time because I don’t want to mislead anyone again. I’m not inclined to do that,” Rondain said.
He said Co’s personality as a person is separate from his personality as a stockholder.
“Separate his personality as a person from his personality as a stockholder. That is not my invention. That is not my legal fiction. That is created by law. That an individual has separate personality distinct from a corporation, which he is a member,” Rondain said.
He said anyone who wants to contest his contention can go to court.
“They have to go to court and pierce the corporate veil and hold the stockholder liable for the actions of the corporation. It’s not iron-clad. There are solutions. But you can’t blame a person for using a defense that is available to him in law. Now, they are angry about it,” Rondain said.
Co ‘OK’
Rondain maintained that Co cannot return to the country because of a serious threat to his life.
“He will come back when the threat against his life has abated,” he said.
“He is all right. Of course, he has a medical problem like most people. But he is OK, emotionally and mentally,” Rondain said.
He said he still does not know whether Co is with his family at present.
“I don’t know. I still don’t know. I was asked that yesterday. I still don’t know today,” Rondain said.
Evasion
Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco urged government agencies yesterday to take decisive action to bring back Co to the country, saying his continued absence shows a clear pattern of evasion from accountability.
“It’s very clear from the statement of his lawyer that former congressman Zaldy Co has no plans to return to the country to face his case,” Tiangco said in a statement.
“Even before he resigned from the House, I said that he is evading accountability,” he added.
Tiangco cited that Co had been twice invited by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) but has failed to appear.
“It’s his lawyer himself who said that he will not return home because there is a threat on his life. But what is the legal basis of that? None. Just because he is rich and powerful, he can use ‘threat to life’ to evade cases? The ordinary Filipino has to face cases,” Tiangco said.
He said that no official threat assessment from national security agencies has been presented to justify Co’s claim.
“If there is indeed threat, the threat assessment should come from the PNP (Philippine National Police) or NSA (National Security Agency). But there is none. The question should be, are they telling the truth?” Tiangco said.
