FORMER congressman Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co is willing to testify if the impeachment case against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. goes to trial, former lawmaker Mike Defensor said on Friday.
Interviewed by reporters during a briefing by the Philippine Accreditation for National Accountability (PANA), which filed the impeachment complaint, Defensor said Co’s readiness to testify keeps the allegations in the impeachment complaints alive despite refusal of the House of Representatives to accept a third filing on procedural grounds.
“Yes, he is willing to be a witness,” Defensor said.
He said PANA would meet later in the day to decide whether to refile the complaint on Jan. 26.
Defensor assured that a separate case would be filed against the Office of the Secretary General.
The group tried to submit its complaint to the House on Thursday, but Executive Director Jose Marmoi Salonga of the House Secretary General’s Office refused to accept it, saying Secretary-General Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil was out of the country.
“We will discuss it, we will fight, we will not take this sitting down. We will file a case against the Secretary General’s Office,” Defensor said.
PANA lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Manny Lunar said they filed a “people’s complaint,” accusing Marcos of fiscal irresponsibility for failing to veto unprogrammed appropriations in the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Lunar said this left P588 billion in taxpayer funds without clear financing sources.
Defensor said that between 2023 and 2025, the allocations in question included some of the largest anomalies in flood control projects.
On Friday, Senior Deputy Minority Leader Edgar Erice warned that technicalities are being used to block the president’s accountability, calling the practice “constitutional sabotage.”
Erice expressed concern that a weak impeachment complaint was filed to preempt stronger, well-prepared complaints, effectively triggering the Constitution’s one-year bar on impeachment against the same official.
“This is not about the merits of impeachment,” Erice said. “This is about the deliberate manipulation of process to prevent the truth from coming out.”
He said his remarks targeted the integrity of the constitutional process, not any individual, including President Marcos. “This goes beyond any administration. If this practice is allowed now, it will be used again in the future. That is how constitutional accountability erodes,” Erice said.
He criticized the House Secretary General’s Office for refusing to receive two other complaints while the secretary-general was abroad. Under the Constitution and House rules, the receipt and docketing of impeachment complaints are ministerial duties that cannot be suspended because of the absence of a particular official.
“Refusal to receive is not a neutral administrative act,” Erice said. “It affects timing, docketing and inclusion in the Order of Business, and can ultimately determine whether an impeachment complaint is ever acted upon.”
Erice warned that deliberately refusing to receive complaints could constitute grave abuse of discretion subject to Supreme Court review.
On Friday, Malacañang Press Officer Claire Castro dared Defensor to substantiate his claim that the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus against the president was a “scam.”
Castro also dismissed Defensor’s claim that the impeachment complaint involved not only the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives but also the speaker and the president.
“Mike Defensor should substantiate his accusation against Atty. De Jesus,” Castro said in a statement.
She said de Jesus himself had admitted his political affiliation in relation to the complaint.
She maintained that Malacañang has no part in the internal disputes surrounding the filing of the impeachment complaint.
“Anyway, Atty. de Jesus already admitted that he worked as counsel for the PDP-Laban Duterte faction. We have nothing to do with their bickering,” Castro said.
The complaint, filed by de Jesus and endorsed by Pusong Pinoy Party-list Rep. Jett Nisay, accused Marcos of violating the Constitution and betraying public trust, over issues including the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court and alleged corruption linked to flood control projects.
Castro has said Marcos remained confident that he committed no impeachable offense and acted in accordance with the Constitution and the law.