MANILA— Two former security aides of ex-lawmaker Zaldy Co testified Monday that they saw numerous suitcases being brought to his luxury condominium in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), with one witness saying he heard colleagues joke that money was inside.

Police Major Alvin Alvaro Nuguid, who served as Co’s close-in security from March 2024 to July 2025, told the Sandiganbayan Third Division that he saw an estimated 50 to 60 suitcases moved in and out of Co’s units at Horizon Homes in Taguig City.

Nuguid said he first heard about deliveries referred to as “special tasking” in April 2024. After completing police schooling from May to July that year, he returned to work for Co in mid-August and began seeing the suitcases in the succeeding months.

He said Co’s supposed executive assistants, John Paul Estrada and Mark Ticsay, contacted him by phone whenever a special tasking was scheduled, which happened two to three times a week during his stint.

“They will just tell me that there is a ‘tasking,’ that boss (Co) has orders,” Nuguid said.

Nuguid told the court that he learned from Estrada, Ticsay and four former bodyguards that the suitcases allegedly contained cash. He identified Rodante Orbillo, Benny Boluntate and Belnard Tube among the former bodyguards involved in the deliveries, who were referred to as the “maleta boys.”

“May biruan po sila na ‘may pera sa basura,’” Nuguid said, recounting their jokes.

He also testified that he saw former House Speaker Martin Romualdez visit Co’s condominium in 2025. The visit lasted about two hours, according to Nuguid.

The witness further said he accompanied Co to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in July 2025 for his flight to the United States, ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address.

Former aide recounts suitcases before Co entered Congress

Another former security aide, Police Chief Master Sergeant Larry Bellen, testified that he saw suitcases even before Co became a congressman.

Bellen, who worked for Co for eight years beginning in 2018, said he helped transport around 10 to 12 suitcases to Co’s unit at Horizon Homes. Each trolley he pushed carried three to four suitcases.

However, Bellen told the court that he had no personal knowledge of the contents of the luggage.

He also recounted overhearing Co and his wife discussing how Romualdez had encouraged Co to seek a seat in the House of Representatives.

“Habang kumakain… nabanggit sa asawa niya na hinikayat [si Co] na ma-nominate sa Ako Bicol Partylist,” Bellen said during the bail hearing.

Bellen added that Co’s secretary had told him that the contents of four suitcases in Co’s office were supposed to be deposited.

He also said he trained Estrada on his responsibilities as an executive aide. Estrada had previously been identified by another former Co bodyguard, George Villalon Jr., as the aide they allegedly saw counting cash that was placed inside suitcases.

Bail hearing involves alleged P7.44-billion kickbacks

The testimonies were presented during the bail hearing of Romualdez in connection with a plunder case involving alleged P7.44-billion kickbacks from infrastructure projects.

Co, the former Ako Bicol representative who chaired the House Committee on Appropriations from July 2022 to January 2025, is among the co-accused in the case. He resigned from the House in September 2025 and is now a fugitive.

The witnesses’ accounts about the suitcases and their alleged contents were based partly on what they said they heard from colleagues. Bellen specifically testified that he did not personally know what the suitcases contained.