A Philippine cabinet minister has claimed that fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co intends to build a five-storey basement within a luxury home to store money, as more revelations of the widening flood-control corruption scandal surface.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla made the claim at a press conference on Tuesday, saying government checks of applications to a private village association and building permits suggested the Forbes Park property in Makati – one of Metro Manila’s most exclusive neighbourhoods – was being built with a basement far deeper than one built for residential parking.
“Yes, our initial investigation showed that the house being constructed by Zaldy Co has a five-storey basement,” Remulla told reporters as quoted by The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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Remulla argued that while basements in high-end homes were often designed for vehicles, a multilevel basement could also serve as secure storage. He said: “We always assume that it is for parking, but it is to our knowledge that it was going to be used for storage of money.”
He added that investigators had also determined the rationale for such a building design. “Because fire goes upwards so they put the money below in the lowest point of the house so that it won’t be harmed if there is a fire.”
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Co’s camp swiftly rejected Remulla’s comments, with his lawyer Ruy Rondain issuing a statement calling the “cash basement” claim a “fabrication”. Rondain also challenged Remulla to disclose his source, saying “neither the existing building nor the construction plans support his claim”.