Marcos Masterminded P805B Cash Drops? Or Just Another Duterte ICC Lifeline?

18 “Ex-Marines,” Zero Bank Records, One Perfect Timing: Anatomy of a Hague-Approved Distraction

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — February 27, 2026

BEHOLD, our noble courts — where truth goes to die a slow, notarized death. Another Tuesday, another Club Filipino press conference where a lawyer with a PDAF scalp on his belt rolls out 18 “former Marines” clutching notarized affidavits thicker than a congressman’s SALN omissions. This time the star is Atty. Levito “Levi” Baligod, waving around P805 billion in phantom cash deliveries, a President as “mastermind,” a Speaker as willing accomplice, and — the pièce de résistance — an International Criminal Court suddenly on the take from Zaldy Co’s loose change. How convenient. How utterly, predictably, Filipino.

Let us dissect this spectacle with the cold scalpel of law, the mocking laughter it so richly deserves, and zero tolerance for the usual dynastic kabuki.

**“From P1.6B to P805B: How to Inflate Corruption (and Bury the Real Scam)”**

1. Deconstructing the Allegations and Eviscerating the Actors

Synopsis, for those who missed the circus: Baligod claims hundreds of suitcase runs of cash — P805 billion total, collected at Zaldy Co’s Valle Verde mansion, verified by Co’s staff like some upscale money-laundering concierge service, then ferried by these noble ex-Marines to politicians galore, with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as the “ugat at pinuno,” Speaker Martin Romualdez taking orders, and, for the international bonus round, two bags containing P56 million (or $2 million, depending which version) converted and handed to “foreigners” later identified as ICC investigators, allegedly routed through Sonny Trillanes. Interviews in private villas, accommodations allegedly comped by Co/Trillanes. ICC jurisdiction? Expired in 2019, they say. The whole probe? A Trillanes-funded sham.

Cue the scalpel—time to fillet Baligod’s merry band of affidavit acrobats and their billion-dollar fever dream.

These 18 self-anointed bagmen? The Philippine Navy checked the records the very next day and delivered the obituary: four of them never served in the Navy or Marines at all. The majority of the rest? Dishonorably discharged — the kind of exit that strips pensions and benefits, not the stuff of patriotic whistleblowers. Guteza, their supposed comrade-in-arms, already testified in September 2025 about delivering P1.68 billion in luggage to Romualdez’s residence. Suddenly the number balloons to P805 billion? That’s not a kickback scheme; that’s rewriting the national budget in an alternate universe where the DPWH flood-control allocation was secretly larger than the entire Philippine GDP.

Baligod, the man who once rode Benhur Luy’s testimony to PDAF glory, now peddles affidavits with the evidentiary heft of a bar napkin. Where are the bank trails? The CCTV stills of armored cars unloading at Malacañang? The photos of cash piles he “promises” but never quite shows? Nowhere. Just notarized “trust me bro” from men whose service records read like a rap sheet. Are they principled whistleblowers? Disgruntled ex-soldiers chasing relevance and backpay? Or pawns in the grand Duterte defense strategy? The timing — press con on the eve of Duterte’s confirmation-of-charges hearing in The Hague — answers that question louder than any affidavit. This isn’t whistleblowing; it’s damage control with extra suitcases.

2. Anatomizing the Political and Institutional Landscape

This isn’t a scandal; it’s the latest artillery round in the endless Marcos-Duterte blood feud. The Duterte camp is watching its patriarch face crimes-against-humanity charges in The Hague, and suddenly — poof! — the ICC is corrupt, bribed by the very people who hate Duterte. How neat. How transparent. How insulting to the intelligence of anyone who can read a calendar.

Meanwhile, the flood-control projects scandal is no fiction. The Commission on Audit (COA) has been filing fraud audit reports left and right: P275 million, P325 million, P330 million in Bulacan alone — ghost projects, non-existent structures, payments for riverbanks that were never built. Guteza’s Senate testimony, Zaldy Co’s own admissions before he fled with his Portuguese passport, budget insertions admitted by everyone except the ones holding the bags. The rot is real. Contractors monopolizing 20% of the DPWH flood budget, 25-40% kickbacks, the works. Baligod’s P805 billion fairy tale simply parasitizes that very real, very festering wound and inflates it into cosmic absurdity to serve a political purpose: muddy the waters, taint the ICC, buy time for Digong.

3. Rigorous Legal Autopsy — Scalpel Out, Gentlemen

On Graft (Republic Act No. 3019): Section 3(e) requires “manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence” causing undue injury. The Supreme Court in Navales v. People (G.R. Nos. 219598 & 220108, August 7, 2024) could not have been clearer: a procurement violation or anomalous contract does not automatically equal graft. You still need proof beyond reasonable doubt of the mental element. Mere affidavits from discredited, dishonorably discharged witnesses? That’s not evidence; that’s a suggestion box entry.

On Plunder (Republic Act No. 7080): The P50-million threshold is child’s play when you invent P805 billion, but the law demands a “series or combination of overt acts” showing a pattern of illicit enrichment. Estrada v. Sandiganbayan (G.R. No. 148560, November 19, 2001) upheld the law precisely because it requires that pattern — not a single fantastical number pulled from thin air and supported by nothing but hearsay. Nice try, Levi.

On Evidence: Under Rule 130, Section 36 of the Revised Rules on Evidence (Rules of Court), affidavits are hearsay when offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted — unless the affiants testify in open court and submit to cross-examination. Where are the live bodies? The forensic accounting? The money trail? The photos Baligod keeps teasing? Vanished, like Co’s accountability.

On the ICC: Article 127(2) of the Rome Statute is mercilessly clear: withdrawal “shall not affect any cooperation with the Court in connection with criminal investigations and proceedings… which were commenced prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective.” The drug-war crimes predate March 17, 2019. The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber affirmed residual jurisdiction in 2025; the Philippines’ own Supreme Court has never contradicted the Statute’s plain text on this point in related rulings. Baligod’s claim that jurisdiction magically evaporated is legally illiterate. As for the bribery allegation — the ICC Office of the Prosecutor issued a statement yesterday: operations are funded solely by the Court’s approved budget, with strict oversight. Bribing ICC investigators with suitcases from Valle Verde? That’s not graft; that’s fan fiction.

4. Options, Resolutions, and the Coming Carnage

Ombudsman Remulla (yes, the same Boying Remulla appointed by Marcos in October 2025) now holds the affidavits under Republic Act No. 6770 (The Ombudsman Act of 1989). Will he conduct a ferocious, independent probe or a polite burial? The optics are… challenging.

Senator Imee Marcos has filed a Senate resolution. A serious inquiry or a family-friendly whitewash? Place your bets.

Baligod’s legal risks: Perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code. Cyberlibel under Republic Act No. 10175 (Trillanes is already loading the complaint). Disbarment under the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) — candor toward the tribunal, no falsehoods, no reckless accusations. The man who once exposed pork barrel may soon find himself explaining why he amplified this one.

Possible outcomes:

Genuine forensic validation of the flood-kickback core → actual charges, actual convictions (finally).
Total debunking → counter-charges, Baligod in the hot seat, another “whistleblower” discredited.
Political compromise → hearings fizzle, Co gets a quiet deal, everyone moves on to the next circus.

Impacts regardless: Public trust in the military, the Ombudsman, the Senate, and the justice system erodes further. The Philippines looks like a banana republic where even international courts are allegedly for sale. Duterte’s defense gets fresh talking points. Investors read the headlines and reach for the exit.

5. Blistering Verdict and a Satirical Call to (Actual) Action

This controversy is the perfect Philippine storm: a real, documented flood-control cancer being hijacked by a blatantly manufactured ICC-bribery fiction timed to the second to shield Rodrigo Duterte from The Hague.

The flood rot is real. COA audits don’t lie. Guteza’s earlier testimony doesn’t vanish. But P805 billion in magic suitcases and bribed ICC probers? That is political theater of the lowest, most desperate order.

Enough with the “yet another investigation” charade. We have had inquiries, resolutions, blue-ribbon committees, and press conferences until we are blue in the face. What we need is:

A forensic audit of every flood-control peso disbursed since 2022, conducted by an independent body with international observers.
Immediate extradition of Zaldy Co — Portuguese passport or not — to testify under oath with no sweetheart deals.
Lifestyle checks on every official named, every contractor, every “ex-Marine” suddenly flush with relevance.
And for the love of whatever is left of our republic: genuine, pro-people governance that spends public funds on actual flood control instead of actual floods of cash into private pockets.

Philippine politics has become a never-ending episode of Survivor: Dynasties Edition, where the only immunity idol is plausible deniability and the only prize is the next election.

The people are not stupid. We see the real graft. We see the political hijacking. And we are tired of being treated like extras in this endless, expensive, tragicomedy.

Time to drain the flood — and the bullshit — once and for all.

Barok has spoken.
Kweba ni Barok — because someone has to say what the paid mouthpieces won’t.