Ten criminal charges are set to be brought against lawyer Levito Baligod and 18 men who described themselves as former aides to fugitive ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, with former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV indicating that the tally is not final.
The Department of Justice has moved to prosecute the group over accusations that suitcases packed with cash were funneled to sitting and former officials, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., under a purported flood control kickback arrangement. Prosecutors broke the count down as six charges of cyberlibel and four of perjury.
“More to come,” Trillanes said in a social media post, pointing to the possibility that offenses beyond cyberlibel and perjury may still be added.
The prosecution panel structured the counts differently for each party. Baligod was charged with four counts of cyberlibel — three shared with the 18 respondents and one filed against him alone — but was spared any perjury count. The 18, meanwhile, carry the full weight of six cyberlibel counts and four perjury counts, the latter tied to their signing of the joint affidavits at the center of the dispute.
Prosecutors traced the cyberlibel exposure to a joint sworn statement dated February 23, a February 24 press briefing held at Club Filipino, and the wave of Facebook posts, reports, and online publications that followed. A separate track of allegations stemming from a March 5 press conference in Valle Verde was folded into the recommendations as well.
Named in the resolution were Belnard Tube, Rosebert Waupan, Benny Bulontate, Johnny Buduan, Rodante Orbillo, Reyneboy Julian, Christopher Esquivel, and George Villalon Jr., alongside Romeo Rommel Bobares, Gil Navidad Jr., Anselmo Taberdo, Joely Cadiao, Rommel Galapon, Cecilio Larroder Jr., Bernard Gumban, Crisanie Dado, Fidel Corpuz, and Walter Manalansan.
The men had earlier claimed they hand-delivered cash-stuffed luggage, or “maletas,” to a roster of state officials on Co’s instructions. They also drew Trillanes into their account, asserting he pocketed $2 million from Co to bankroll International Criminal Court investigators pursuing a crimes against humanity case against former President Rodrigo Duterte — an accusation the DOJ panel deemed defamatory.
To green-light the charges, prosecutors applied the department’s benchmark of prima facie evidence carrying a reasonable certainty of conviction, meaning the cases are expected to hold up through trial. That same threshold worked against Trillanes on other fronts: complaints he lodged against Lorraine Badoy-Partosa, Mary Catherine Binag, Michael Defensor, Jay Sonza, Byron “Banat By” Cristobal, Oliver “Coach Oli” Cristobal, Judean “Master Judea” Morcoso, Arjay “Pareng Arjay” Piodina, and Swara Sug Media Corporation’s Sonshine Media Network International News Channel were thrown out for want of evidence.
Baligod has signaled he will fight back through a motion for reconsideration, contending that prosecutors got the cyberlibel finding wrong. He maintained there is no proof that any of the 18 “posted on social media” the joint affidavit that anchors the accusation.
On the perjury question, the lawyer defended the reliability of his clients’ account, stating, “On the perjury case, the established truth is the evident credibility of the randomly selected eight of the 18 former soldiers as stated in the Public Announcement of the Office of the Ombudsman.”
