Transcribed from his official FB page
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=983899770814745
paragraph breaks and minor typos fixed via Claude AI, model Sonnet 4.6

Magandang Araw sa inyong Lahat.

For a long time I chose to remain silent. I did so out of respect for the legal process. I did so because I did not want to add more noise to an already divisive issue. I did so because I believed that if I cooperated fully, submitted myself to the proper authorities, and answered every question asked of me, the truth would eventually speak for itself. But there comes a point when silence is no longer prudence. My silence has been abused and weaponized to build a narrative that is false, twisted, and unfair. So let me be clear. I will not keep quiet anymore. I will face this head on, and I will speak with facts because the truth deserves to be heard.

Today, I am taking this opportunity to speak directly to the Filipino people. From the start of this controversy, I have been cooperative. I personally appeared before the proper authorities. I voluntarily submitted my affidavit to the ICI. I provided the information and documents asked of me. I did not hide, I did not run, I did not evade scrutiny. I faced it head-on within the proper channel, because I know there is no evidence that proves I committed plunder, conspiracy to commit plunder, or any similar offense that the Ombudsman may be contemplating against me. And because I have nothing to hide, I am today authorizing the immediate public release of the affidavit I submitted, together with all supporting information, so that the Filipino people can judge for themselves who has been transparent and who is simply being politically targeted.

Now let us address the most absurd accusation of all, that I am supposedly the mastermind of this corruption scheme. How can I be the mastermind? I was the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, but the House of Representatives is only one part of the branch of government, the legislature. The national budget is not conceived, executed, implemented, bid out, supervised, and completed by one congressman or even by Congress alone, and certainly not by the Speaker of the House.

I want to make this simple and clear. The national budget does not depend on just one person. The budget does not begin in the House. It begins in the Executive. The agencies and departments prepare their proposals. The executive consolidates them into the national expenditure program, and that program is then submitted to Congress. From there, the House deliberates, but the House is not one person, and it is certainly not the Speaker alone. It is a collegial body made up of hundreds of members, multiple committees, vice chairs, and institutional processes. In fact, there are around 85 committees, each with its own jurisdiction, leadership, and members. No speaker can personally control every committee, much less direct the actions of other branches or government agencies.

And in the Appropriations Committee itself, there are already more than 100 members, with many vice chairs. Representative Toby Tianco, who has been very vocal and upfront on this issue over the past months, was himself a vice chair of the Appropriations Committee in the previous Congress. So I have to ask, if there were real concerns about irregularities in the budget process, why were these not formally raised during the deliberations, or even during the plenary.

The budget deliberation does not stop in the House. The Senate also conducts its own deliberations, reviews its own version, and plays its own role in shaping the final budget, and it is not a bystander. It is an active constitutional participant in this process. After that, the House and the Senate reconcile their versions in the Bicameral Conference Committee. Only then is the final bill transmitted to the president for approval or veto.

So let us be honest about what becomes law. The national budget is not the act of one person or one chamber. It is a product of a constitutional chain involving the executive, the House, and the Senate. This is something I want the public to understand. The budget process is collective, multi-layered, and shared. Accountability must apply to everyone involved, not selectively assigned after the fact, and certainly not when it becomes politically useful.

If corruption were to occur in a magnitude made known to us over the past months, then it is clear that the real corruption does not happen at the level of the general legislative approval alone. It happens at the level of execution of the General Appropriations Act. It happens when projects are implemented. It happens where procurement is undertaken, where monetary disbursements are actually made. And it happens when substandard projects are passed off as legitimate, or when ghost projects are made to appear real.

That is why command responsibility is far more logically relevant in the executive branch, where there is actually supervision, operational control, and implementation on the ground, than in the collegial legislative body whose constitutional role is deliberation and appropriation. Congress does not build flood control projects. Congress does not conduct procurement. Congress does not inspect whether a project was actually completed. Congress does not certify whether the work done was substandard or not. So if the allegation is that there was systemic corruption in flood control implementation, then the public should ask the obvious question: where does implementation actually happen? Definitely not in the session hall of the House of Representatives.

Here is the simplest way to test the theory that I am the mastermind of this scheme. If I were truly involved in a fraudulent scheme of this nature, then the first place one would expect to see that pattern would be in my own district, in the projects most easily associated with me. You would have seen it in Tacloban. But I say this with absolute certainty, you will not see it in my district. My district has zero ghost and zero substandard flood control projects. Zero. And that is verifiable. To prove this point, I am authorizing my staff to share and release to the public the list of all the projects in my district that the authorities may deem attributable to me. Let the public scrutinize and verify for themselves.

As I already mentioned, corruption of this scale is not a one-man operation. It requires two things: budget decisions and implementation on the ground. With respect to how the budget was deliberated in Congress, let me say this categorically. I was not a part of the BICAM and the small committee budget deliberations. Yes, I was updated on the general outcomes of the deliberations. But I had no visibility with regard to the specific details of the discussions, including particular amendments or insertions approved during these closed door deliberations. Records would show that I did not participate in those meetings and I was not privy to what exactly transpired during the deliberations. However, two people were instrumental in making those budget decisions: Chiz Escudero and Zaldi Co. And once the budget becomes law, the work of implementing flood control projects, or any project for that matter, is solely within the purview of the executive, including the DPWH, and certainly not by legislators.

I understand the anger of the public. The Filipino people have every right to be angry because stolen public funds are taxes derived from hard-earned money. I am not asking the public to look away. I am asking everyone to look where the evidence points, not where it is politically convenient or politically motivated. So I ask the Ombudsman and the public these questions. Who has been named in sworn testimonies and affidavits? Whose names actually appear in credible accounts made under oath? If there are sworn accounts pointing to other personalities across the chain, whether in budget deliberations or in implementation, then those leads must be pursued with the same seriousness and the same urgency. Accountability cannot be selective.

For months I chose silence because I believed in our legal system and in the rule of law. But my silence is now being exploited with politically engineered and fabricated narratives. What is even more disturbing, and this is something that cannot be ignored, is that there are emerging indications that certain sectors are attempting to weaponize individuals, including Zaldi Co, to construct a narrative that serves their own interests. So when the legal process is being used against me as a political demolition job, then I will have no choice but to defend myself. And I will defend myself fully. I will not allow myself to be turned into the scapegoat so that others who are actually accountable can walk away clean. If this is a political play to push me out and close the story, tarnishing my name and my reputation, then I am telling everyone now. I will not go quietly and I will not go alone.

I will not be the fall guy for other people’s corruption. I have been in public life long enough. I have seen enough. I have heard enough. I know many things about this current administration and past administrations as well. And I say this carefully: if this matter is to be handled as a legal issue, then let it be handled legally, soberly, and according to evidence. But if certain people insist on waging this in the court of public opinion, then I will have no choice but to defend myself publicly as well.

To the Ombudsman, I say this with full respect. If your office truly believes in justice, then follow the sworn statements. Follow the records and follow the evidence all the way. Do not stop where it is politically convenient. Do not settle for the easiest headline. Do not confuse public pressure with prosecutorial duty. What I ask of the Office of the Ombudsman is simple: follow the rule of law and due process. This is a serious matter and it should be handled with seriousness, not with haste, theatrics, or shortcuts.

I am ready and willing to respond to every allegation in the proper forum, through the proper pleadings, motions, and submissions that the law allows. And to those who think they can throw me under the bus to save themselves, this is what I have to say to you. I am ready to defend my name. My silence should not be mistaken for weakness, ignorance, or fear. I know enough to defend myself, and if I am forced to do so in public, I will.

Maraming Salamat po.