Lawmakers say they saw ‘messages’ showing Marcos knowledge of flood control kickbacks

MANILA, Philippines – ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio, endorser of the dismissed impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said he saw “communication records” proving that the chief executive had direct knowledge of the kickback scheme that led to the flood control corruption scandal.

Caloocan 2nd District Representative Edgar Erice also told Rappler he had seen the supposed messages.

One of the accusations in the petition endorsed by Makabayan was that Marcos had direct personal knowledge of the modus, citing the video statements of former House budget chairperson Zaldy Co and the testimony of former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, among others.

Co had alleged that Presidential Legislative Liaisons Office chief Adrian Bersamin had given him a list of projects worth P100 billion that Marcos ordered inserted in the national budget. Bernardo later testified that he delivered P8 billion in cash to Bersamin and then-education undersecretary Trygve Olivar.

“There are records of communications between undersecretary Adrian Bersamin and President Marcos from December 2024 to July 2025. These include a message dated March 24, 2025, regarding the receipt of an P8-billion delivery from Bernardo that was relayed to the President, along with the President’s acknowledgment or reply of ‘OK,'” Tinio said in Filipino during the plenary session on Tuesday, February 10.

“The message states: ‘The 7.122 delivery to me is already complete… I will finish the computation today,'” Tinio added.

Tinio claimed the message also showed a breakdown of how the P8 billion in kickbacks were spent.

“This primarily included expenses for candidates supported by the President in the last election, as well as spending for election-related TV advertisements, a P6-million payment to a foreign pollster, Peron, who was used by Malacañang as an election consultant, and P68 million as a talent fee for a performer used by the administration during the campaign,” Tinio said.

Tinio added that the communications continued until July 2025.

“On July 10, Bersamin conveyed that he had a P2-billion delivery for the President at the Narra residence in Forbes Park. The President replied, ‘I’ll inform Jun Baris.’ This was July 10. The President appears to have been receiving kickbacks just days before he went to Congress, where he stood before the chamber and said, ‘Have some shame.’ So, who, exactly, should be ashamed?” Tinio said.

A quick Google search indicated that Baris had, at one point, been Marcos’ head of security.

Tinio said that aside from Bersamin, Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste also has a copy of the “record of communications.” The Makabayan lawmaker added that Leviste also showed the text messages to Erice.

“In short, there is strong evidence supporting the allegation that the President knew — and knew very well — about the corruption in flood control projects, directly took part in it, and received kickbacks from it,” Tinio said.

Rappler has asked for Malacañang’s reaction but has yet to receive a response.

The House overwhelmingly junked the impeachment complaints against Marcos on Tuesday, with 284 lawmakers out of 296 House members present voting in favor of dismissal.

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“These complaints fail to establish a factual nexus between the President and any impeachable offense. They attempt to reframe mere policy disagreements and routine executive functions as a betrayal of public trust without any showing of bad faith or malice,” committee chairperson Gerville “Jinky” Luistro said. – Rappler.com