DILG chief links Zaldy Co to P500-million PNP budget inse

National

INTERIOR Secretary Jonvic Remulla has revealed that a ₱500-million insertion found in the 2025 intelligence fund of the Philippine National Police (PNP) was traced to the same person allegedly behind a controversial request to import 3,000 containers of fish — a veiled reference to former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co.

During a Senate finance committee hearing on Thursday, Oct.16, Remulla said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had already returned the ₱500 million to the Office of the President after discovering it was not part of their original funding proposal.

“We returned it because it was an insertion in the budget, and the insertion came from the person who requested 3,000 containers of fish,” Remulla told senators, alluding to Co without naming him directly.

In a report by Inquirer.net, the Cabinet official made the disclosure while defending the 2026 budget of the DILG and its attached agencies, including the PNP, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Bureau of Fire Protection.

The issue arose after Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the committee chair, questioned why the PNP’s intelligence fund dropped from ₱1.3 billion in 2025 to ₱800 million in 2026.

Remulla clarified that the additional ₱500 million in the 2025 allocation was never requested by the DILG and was inconsistent with the National Expenditure Program (NEP) — the version of the budget prepared by the executive branch.

“We did not ask for it,” he said, adding that the department “found no use for it” and thus decided to return the funds.

The secretary hinted that the insertion might have been part of a political or financial “trade-off,” though he did not elaborate. “There might have been a trade-off with that insertion. That’s why we refused the ₱500 million,” he said.

Earlier this year, Remulla disclosed that the PNP suffered significant budget cuts for information technology projects in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

Still, allocations were made for new amphibious vehicles in the Bicol region — Co’s home turf — and for a ₱500-million increase in the PNP’s intelligence fund, the same amount now under scrutiny.

Co, who left for the United States in July reportedly for medical treatment, has since been embroiled in multiple corruption allegations, including questionable public works projects and irregular budget insertions during his tenure as chair of the House appropriations committee.

(Xienderlyn Trinidad, USJ-R Comm Intern)