ZALDY CO AND CHIZ ESCUDERO’S P150-BILLION EXTORTION MUSICAL

“Give me the money or the budget gets reenacted… again.”

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — December 2, 2025

1. THE FUGITIVE SAINT DROPS THE BOMB FROM HIS OVERSEAS VILLA

Petmalu ‘to: Zaldy Co — former Ako Bicol Party-list Representative, ex-chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, and current star of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego: Graft Edition — casually uploads a seven-page “Dear Mr. President” letter on Facebook. The punchline? Then-Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero allegedly marched into the 2025 bicameral conference committee and delivered the mother of all shakedowns:

“Give me P200 billion or I delay the budget until March. Reenacted budget ang peg, mga pare.”

After the usual backroom haggling, they “compromised” at P150 billion — with P145 billion funneled straight to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Because nothing says “legacy” like overpriced flood-control projects in districts that never flood Manila Bulletin, 30 Nov. 2025.

**“Coming soon to a bankrupt republic near you: ‘The Sound of 150 Billion—every note a pothole!’”**

2. “I TOLD THEM NOT TO” — THE PRESIDENT’S IRONCLAD DEFENSE

Malacañang’s official response can be summarized in four words:
“Sabi ko naman eh.”

According to Zaldy the Reliable Narrator, the threat was relayed to Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, who relayed it to the President, who allegedly replied, “Don’t ever think about it.”
And then… the House folded anyway. The P150 billion sailed through. Education got body-slammed by DPWH.

Article VII, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution says the President “shall have control of all the executive departments.” Apparently that control comes with an asterisk: “except when Congress decides to play mafia.”

3. LEGAL AUTOPSY: CARVING UP THE THREE STOOGES

Francis “Chiz” Escudero — The Budget Extortionist in a Barong

Threatening to hold the entire national budget hostage unless you get your P150-billion ransom? That’s not brinkmanship. That’s grave coercion (Art. 286, Revised Penal Code) and a possible violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) — causing undue injury through manifest partiality and bad faith.

He’ll wave the magical cloak of legislative immunity (Article VI, Section 11, 1987 Constitution). Too bad the Supreme Court already shredded that cloak in Belgica v. Ochoa (G.R. No. 208566, 2013) and Araullo v. Aquino (G.R. No. 209287, 2014): the moment you step into post-enactment territory or strong-arm for political loot, immunity turns into toilet paper.

Zaldy Co — The Whistleblower Who Found Jesus After the Arrest Warrant

Spare us the tears, Saint Zaldy of the Five-Star Safe House. You were the House Appropriations chair. You signed the damn surrender document. You only discovered your conscience when the House Quad Committee started circling your own P13.8-billion insertions like sharks smelling blood.

This isn’t whistleblowing. This is a guy torching the village to cover his escape.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — “I Verbalized My Disapproval” Is Not a Governance Strategy

The President knew. His own secretary told him. He allegedly said “no.”
And then he did… absolutely nothing while Congress treated the national budget like an ATM with no daily limit.

4. THE BICAMERAL BLACK HOLE: WHERE P150 BILLION GOES TO DIE

Every year we pretend the Bicameral Conference Committee is a dignified legislative process.
In reality it’s a secret room with no cameras, no transcripts, and no rules — just a few alpha males carving up your money like lechon at a political baptism.

Result? DPWH balloons while the Department of Education (DepEd) gets crumbs — in direct violation of Article XIV, Section 5(5) of the Constitution mandating the highest budgetary priority for education.

5. PROSECUTION? CUTE. LET’S PRETEND THAT’S AN OPTION

The roadmap we’ll never actually take:

Complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman (Republic Act No. 6770)
Fact-finding → preliminary investigation → Sandiganbayan raffle in 2032
47 motions to inhibit later… everyone is suddenly running for higher office instead

Meanwhile the P150 billion is already cemented into roads to nowhere and someone’s Cayman account.