A retired lawmaker has been ordered to answer for allegations that a group of men presenting themselves as former Marines was paid to give their accounts, the National Bureau of Investigation disclosed on Thursday as it restarted a probe that had stalled earlier this year.
The bureau confirmed it issued a subpoena to the former congressman, requiring him to address claims that money changed hands in exchange for the men’s statements. The reopening was triggered by fresh information that reached investigators pointing to the alleged payments, the NBI said.
At the center of the matter are 18 individuals who have described themselves as ex-Marines and who say they once worked as bagmen for fugitive former Ako Bicol party-list representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co. The group has claimed it ferried cash-stuffed luggage from Co to various government figures, allegations tied to the sprawling controversy over anomalous flood control spending.
The same 18 men surfaced Thursday at a Senate inquiry into the flood control mess, a hearing convened by senators aligned with Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano. Their appearance came after a turbulent stretch in which the Blue Ribbon Committee, now chaired by Senator Pia Cayetano, first withdrew an invitation for them to take part in the June 4 session, then restored it.
The NBI’s renewed look revisits ground the agency had already covered. Acting on a referral from the Office of the Ombudsman, which deputized the bureau, investigators earlier summoned the 18 men along with their counsel, lawyer Levito Baligod, and the former congressman now facing the latest subpoena. That earlier round raised questions about the men’s military backgrounds, with the Philippine Navy disputing whether several had ever served as Marines at all.
Baligod has maintained that his clients witnessed and took part in the cash deliveries firsthand and that their accounts are not secondhand. He has also asserted that the men faced pressure and inducements meant to sway their testimony, an assertion that now sits at the heart of the bureau’s revived inquiry.
