The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has found that the joint testimony of 18 former bodyguards of fugitive and former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, alleging they delivered billions of pesos in flood control funds to lawmakers, has “no probative value,” as it was mostly hearsay and a “coordinated narrative.”
“The evidence is weak. …There is no credible witness to corroborate the whole allegations, and photographic evidence is compromised,” NBI Director Melvin Matibag said in presenting his task force’s findings on Monday before an “organizational” and “consultative” meeting of the Senate blue ribbon committee, now chaired by Sen. Erwin Tulfo.
Matibag said the NBI “could not use the joint affidavit of the ex-bodyguards to file a case against the lawmakers” whom they were accusing of receiving the cash deliveries.
Likewise, representatives of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ) made it clear that they wanted the 18 former bodyguards to submit individual affidavits so they could evaluate their allegations and corroborating evidence for possible fact-finding and preliminary investigations.
Tulfo held the committee meeting as the new Senate majority under the leadership of acting Senate President and Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian has begun to organize committees.
The blue ribbon committee used to be headed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who investigated the flood control scandal, but was replaced by Sen. Pia Cayetano after Sen. Alan Cayetano snapped the Senate presidency from Sen. Vicente Sotto III.
But on June 3, 12 senators led by Sotto declared they were the new Senate majority as Cayetano’s bloc had shrunk to 10 members with the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to face plunder charges and the disappearance of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who has gone into hiding to evade the International Criminal Court’s bid to try him for being a co-perpetrator of the war on drugs by former president Rodrigo Duterte.
They elected Gatchalian as Senate president pro tempore.
Cayetano’s bloc, though, held a Senate blue ribbon committee meeting last June 4, where the 18 bodyguards repeated their allegations that they made cash deliveries to certain lawmakers using luggage.
‘Kargador’
Tulfo’s committee had invited the 18 bodyguards, or as his brother, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, described them as “kargador,” for the Monday meeting, but they did not show up despite being on the Senate premises.
Instead, Tulfo said the 18 bodyguards were at the office of Sen. Robinhood Padilla with their lawyer, Levito Baligod, holding their own press conference. They did not reply to the panel’s repeated invitations.
Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said the committee, at this point, cannot compel the bodyguards to appear at the meeting, as this was not yet a hearing since the panel is still being constituted. But he warned that once the reconstituted blue ribbon committee invites them to the hearing on the flood control mess, their continued refusal may prompt the panel to issue a subpoena and even order their arrest.
At the hearing, Matibag said the NBI task force looked into the Feb. 23 joint affidavit of the 18 bodyguards, not wanting to call them Marines, since he noted the majority of them were dishonorably discharged, while others were Army reservists and civilians.
He said he was able to get five of the 18 to sign individual affidavits after the NBI interviewed them.
“The 13 others were stopped by Atty. Baligod from signing [their statements] as he wanted to review first the statements made by them. There was even an incident where Atty. Baligod wanted to tear up the testimonies of the 18 bodyguards, which we did not allow,” Matibag said.
On the task force findings, most of the statements in the joint affidavit of the ex-bodyguards were hearsay, according to Matibag, who added that their allegations were based on what their colleagues told them or texts they received in group chats.
He said that only 10% to 20% of the bodyguards’ testimonies were true, but these were on factual matters. These included being employed by Co, being assigned to different people, some of them were Marines, and they knew some of the people involved here.
Contents of luggage
But Matibag noted that they did not know about the “crime” of delivering the alleged kickbacks to certain lawmakers, and whether the contents of the luggage were indeed cash.
He noted that one of the bodyguards who signed his statement, Gil Natividad, told the NBI he merely drove the vehicle carrying the cash deliveries and that Paul Estrada and Mark Ticsay were the ones who made the cash deliveries.
But in the joint affidavit, Natividad claimed that he knew about the cash deliveries too, along with 17 bodyguards.
Matibag said the joint affidavit of the 18 bodyguards was “not enough to prove probable cause,” as the DOJ’s new policy was only to file cases if prosecutors could determine “reasonable certainty of conviction.”
On the NBI finding that the bodyguards’ testimonies had a “coordinated narrative,” Matibag said that among the “signs” included, Baligod had offered them to stay in his residence in Quezon City, and there were “real-time coaching interviews” since the group gathered in November 2025 until they released their joint affidavit in February.
Matibag said the same wording in the joint affidavit of the bodyguards indicated “coaching.” He noted that it was Baligod who approached Johnny Buduan, who in turn recruited the other 17 bodyguards.
Supreme Court case
He said that based on the Supreme Court case People vs Centero, coordinated testimony “reduces its probative value.”
“The Supreme Court has explicitly stated that perfect symmetry among testimonies does not inspire belief; instead, it breeds suspicion that the testimonies were rehearsed or concocted,” he said.
Karen Batu, officer-in-charge of the Central Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman, said that office evaluators had sent notice to Baligod requiring the 18 bodyguards to submit their respective affidavits.
On questioning by Sen. Raffy Tulfo, Batu said the individual affidavits will allow them to verify the bodyguards’ personal knowledge and determine whether these could “withstand preliminary investigation” or be referred for fact-finding investigation.
“There should be verifiable leads, and for us not to conduct a fishing expedition,” she said.
‘Media purposes’
Sen. Vicente Sotto III told his colleagues he had no reason to ask any more questions from the resource persons after the NBI finding that the joint affidavit was concocted and apparently done for “media purposes.”
“I actually sympathize with them, because they may have been used,” Sotto said, adding that the bodyguards may be left holding the bag. The committee meeting ran for over 2 hours, with Tulfo suspending it “until further notice” in deference to the powerful earthquake that struck across Mindanao, causing massive damage to life and property. He said the majority bloc would head to Mindanao to look into the needs of the affected provinces. CS
