NO ONE HAS ever dared directly drag President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. into the flood control mess, except ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Luansing Tinio, an activist and politician since 2025.
Tinio said based on the exchange of text messages between the President and his former Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, Marcos Jr. benefitted from the kickbacks in the flood control fund scandal.
Tinio, in an interview with GMA Integrated News, claimed that Bersamin was the personal runner or “bagman” of the President in collecting the kickbacks.
CASH DELIVERIES, TEX MESSAGES
Citing a July 10, 2025 alleged text of Bersamin said: “complete na po ang 7.122 delivery sa akin. Tapusin ko po ang computation today.” Tinio said that was similar to messages from March 24, 2025 from July 10, 2025.
“Eto nga yung nagpapaabot si Bersamin na meron pong cash delivery P2 billion dadalhin natin sa Narra residence”, to which Marcos allegedly replied: “Sasabihan ko si Jun Baris.” Baris was former head of security.
The TV newscaster said: “matatandaan na si Bersamin ang tinuro noon ni (resigned and now fugitive) Rep. Zaldy Co na nagkumpirma na may pinapa insert si Pangulo Maros ng P100 billion sa budget. Si Bersamin din daw ang nagbigay kay Co ng listahan ng mga proyekto na mula mismo kay Pangulo.”
This was previously denied by Malacañang, but Tinio said this can be matched against the testimony of former Public Works and Highways Secretary Roberto Bernardo, where the latter claimed that in March he completed the delivery of around P2 billion in an armored van.
Tinio said the text messages were also obtained by Caloocan (2nd district) Rep. Edgar Erice and other congressmen.
LEVISTE CONFIRMED
Batangas (1st district) Rep. Leandro Leviste was the one that showed the text exchanges but Tinio deferred to Leviste to explain how the exchange of text messages landed in his hands.
When GMA tried to get confirmation from Leviste, he posted in his FB post that “panoorin na lang niyo ang mga pahayag ni Tinio at Erice.”
Erice confirmed that it was Leviste who showed them the text exchanges between Marcos and Bersamin.
Bersamin allegedly did an affidavit on this in Leviste’s house in Taal, Batangas. The latter even showed CCTV footage of the arrival of Bersamin, along with some lawyers.
The Makabayan bloc is now studying how to use the text messages between Bersamin and Marcos as evidence.
Rep Sarah Elago of Gabriela Women’s party challenged the Office of the Ombudsman over this serious new twist that could not be ignored.
OUSTER INPUT
Palace spokesman Claire Castro belittled this development saying this is just another fodder for the ouster of the President.
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.
With these, it seems the President appears to have been receiving kickbacks just days before he went to Congress, where he stood before the chamber and said, “Mahiya naman kayo!”
Tinio said that aside from Bersamin, Leviste also claimed he has a copy of the “record of communications.”
JUNKED!
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.
“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.