Lawyer Levito Baligod has walked back any suggestion that the former security personnel he represents pointed to Senator Francis Pangilinan as a recipient of cash tied to anomalous flood control contracts, saying the witnesses leveled no such accusation against the senator.
Speaking Friday, June 19, on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s program “The Spokes,” Baligod said the appearance of Pangilinan’s image during a June 16 media briefing was read the wrong way by those who took it as an allegation. According to the lawyer, the photograph was included only to demonstrate the use of a helicopter and an aircraft linked to former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co during the campaign period — not to implicate the senator in any cash deliveries.
Pressed on whether the witnesses had voiced any claim against Pangilinan, Baligod recounted instructing the operator running the slide presentation to keep moving past the image. “Prinesent ‘yung picture niya doon… Walang sinabi ‘yung mga (dating) sundalo. Kaya sabi ko doon sa nag-o-operate ng mga presentation ng slides, ‘Move forward, move forward,'” he said.
The clarification follows Pangilinan’s forceful denial earlier in the week and his announcement that he intends to take the group to court over what he described as an effort to tie him and his family to the scheme. The senator has characterized the move as a baseless attempt to discredit him, coming as it did around the time of reports that he was set to chair a Blue Ribbon subcommittee continuing the flood control investigation.
The former soldiers have been presented by Baligod as bagmen who allegedly ferried suitcases of cash to several officials at Co’s instruction. The photograph at the center of the dispute showed Pangilinan and his wife, Sharon Cuneta, in the same frame as people connected to Co — an image Cuneta has said was taken in Marawi after the May 2025 elections and bears no relation to the kickback claims.
