We at Palawan News confess our love for math. We use it to understand local government budgets and analyze Commission on Audit findings. We use it when the numbers in an official report do not add up to the story being told. We like using math to cut through political narratives and motherhood statements.
The other day, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson scooped us on a story about the 18 ex-Marines. He pulled out a calculator on a story that was supposed to be explosive.
Eighteen men claiming to be former Philippine Marines held a press conference at Club Filipino, assisted by private counsel. They alleged that they personally delivered ₱805 billion in kickbacks, stuffed into suitcases and paper bags, to the residences of top government officials, including the President of the Republic himself. The claim was billed as a patriotic last stand, a soldier’s final duty to country.
Senator Lacson, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, responded with grade school arithmetic.
Let’s do his math again. ₱805 billion, divided by ₱1,000, the denomination allegedly used, yields 805 million individual banknotes. A standard Philippine ₱1,000 bill, like most paper currency, weighs about one gram. That means 805 million bills would weigh 805 million grams, or 805,000 kilograms, or 805 metric tons of cash.
A fully loaded Boeing 747 cargo aircraft carries roughly 100 metric tons. Moving ₱805 billion in ₱1,000 bills would require the equivalent of more than eight full cargo flights. The 18 Marines’ narrative about suitcase and paper bag runs simply does not wash.
The volume question makes the case even starker. A Philippine ₱1,000 bill measures about 156 mm by 66 mm and is about 0.1 mm thick. Stacked, 805 million of them would rise to roughly 80 kilometers, nearly 10 times the cruising altitude of a commercial aircraft at 35,000 feet. Arranged flat and packed into large suitcases, each capable of holding about 0.08 cubic meters of currency, you would need upwards of 10,000 suitcases to contain the alleged hoard, not bags and suitcases, and not a fleet of vehicles.
The witnesses claimed deliveries were made by land and, yes, by air, using helicopters and airplanes, as their lawyer, Atty. Levito Baligod, confirmed. That detail does not add credibility to the narrative. Instead, it compounds its implausibility. Currency movements of this scale would be flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council. There would be a paper trail for every cash transfer and SARO funds release.
There is a big difference between a whistleblower and a witness coordinator. Baligod claimed that former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and International Criminal Court investigators received $2 million from Zaldy Co’s circle. The allegation was specific, sensational, and timed on the eve of the EDSA People Power anniversary, just as the ICC’s confirmation of charges hearing against Rodrigo Duterte was underway. By the next day, Baligod was already retreating, clarifying that there was no categorical statement that Trillanes or ICC investigators actually received the $2 million. What the ex-Marines observed, he said, was that a certain Paul Estrada had told them they were “preparing for the arrival of foreigners,” and so they exchanged pesos for dollars. That is far from the direct accusation of bribery that drove headlines two days earlier.
Then there is the matter of Rep. Leila de Lima, who was among those named in the joint affidavit as having received cash deliveries. By February 26, Baligod was on a radio and TV talk show admitting that De Lima’s inclusion was an “oversight,” even as he insisted that she still received kickbacks, not in a suitcase but in a paper bag.
That was not a minor clerical error. It was a serious failure of due diligence. It placed the entire joint affidavit in question. What other slips and oversights are buried there?
Four of the 18 men were never Marines at all, according to an official statement released by the Philippine Navy. Most of the rest were dishonorably discharged from service. The Armed Forces also confirmed that no official security detail was ever assigned from the Marine Corps to serve Zaldy Co.
Lacson is right to insist on evaluating the “source and reliability” of testimony before convening full Blue Ribbon Committee hearings. The narrative should pass the arithmetic test at the very least, not to mention a coherence test, where it is also struggling.
The story needs to survive its own arithmetic, and the lawyer presenting the confessions should not be contradicting his own clients when pressed in interviews.
