LAST week’s press conference with lawyer Levito Baligod and 18 men, mostly former members of the Philippine Marines, delivered a lot of explosive allegations about huge cash deliveries to politicians, and other current and former public officials. The press conference came a day before the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, and coincided with the start of the confirmation of charges hearing at the International Criminal Court against former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The eyebrow-raising allegations didn’t make big headlines in mainstream media though. In my personal view, when allegations of this grave and disturbing character are made, the credibility of the accuser or messenger is very important. A credible accuser means that we would give credence to statements or allegations even before verifying the details. But when serious allegations are made by complete strangers or persons who are lacking in credibility, we will naturally be skeptical.
Baligod isn’t exactly the most credible legal mind in the country. He was once much admired as the original counsel of pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy. But Luy terminated the services of Baligod, whose less-than required time and attention to Luy’s case was threatening to compromise the latter. Baligod claimed he had been eased out by someone with a sinister motive, but then-justice secretary Leila de Lima denied that such was the case.
Speaking of de Lima, Baligod had to quickly take the blame for having her listed among the Congress members who received dirty money. De Lima only got elected party-list representative last May 2025. She was granted bail — after almost seven years in detention — in November 2023. The last case against her was thrown out in June 2024. It is contrary to logic that de Lima, finally free from detention and cases, would accept money from dubious sources and personalities, for herself or on behalf of anyone.
While Baligod may not have been so visible on the national scene after he ended his services for Luy, he became quite a household name in Leyte’s fifth legislative district. He and his wife have both run for public office, most recently in the 2025 elections when the two ran unsuccessfully for district representative and Baybay City mayor, respectively. In the 2022 presidential election, the couple reportedly focused on campaigning for then-vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte.
On March 7, 2023, Baligod suddenly popped up in Negros Oriental. This was just three days after the horrific Pamplona massacre. He announced the imminent filing of three counts of murder against then-third district representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves in connection with three murders in Negros Oriental in 2019 — the murders of provincial board member Miguel Dungog; Lester Bato, who was a bodyguard of a local candidate; and Pacito Libron, an alleged hitman. According to Baligod, it was pure coincidence that the preparation of filing of these cases happened around the time of the March 4, 2023, massacre that claimed 10 lives, including that of governor Roel Ragas Degamo. Baligod became the legal counsel of the Degamo family. He was present at the Senate hearings on the Pamplona massacre and other violent crimes in Negros Oriental.
Last January, Judge Eduardo Ramon Reyes of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 15 threw out the Dungog, Bato and Libron murder cases due to insufficiency of evidence. Teves and his two co-accused are, however, still facing 10 counts of murder, among others, in connection with the 2023 massacre. There was no mention of Baligod in the news reports about Judge Reyes’ rulings in the cases.
Baligod cannot blame media and discerning members of the public for being skeptical about the revelations of the 18 men. Who are they? We don’t know them. Even the witness to the notarization of the affidavit, Bishop Efraim Tendero, doesn’t personally know the 18 self-confessed bagmen. The bishop refers to them as “the 18 soldiers” in a public statement on his Facebook account (Feb. 27). “I do not know the group personally; they reached out to me as a religious leader who champions the call for transparency, accountability and integrity in governance,” Bishop Tendero explained. He is one of the convenors of the anti-corruption Trillion Peso March movement. Doesn’t the championing of the call for transparency, accountability and integrity in governance also require a degree of circumspection?
In 2014, Baligod incurred the ire of the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who even threatened to have him disbarred. This was over the so-called Luy List of corrupt elected officials. Here was Baligod again with a long list of personalities who allegedly received dirty money. Even national security adviser, former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Eduardo Año hasn’t been spared. But Año is not going to take the smearing of his good name sitting down.
Abangan ang susunod na kabanata!
