House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos tells Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co should return to the country and directly address allegations linking him to questionable budget insertions.

He noted that the House has no institutional power to compel Co’s return, but emphasized it is the congressman’s responsibility to clear his name.

“I don't know if that is something you can do as a body, but again, I think he should come home and face the allegations against him,” Rep. Marcos answered the media in an ambush interview.

Marcos stressed that Co, who is reportedly in the United States for medical treatment, has much to explain amid the controversies. He warned that if Co continues to stay abroad, the House may have no choice but to move forward with an ethics complaint.

“It might be, yes. I mean, there's a precedent for it,” he said.

Marcos also examples the case of former Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., who was expelled from the House of Representatives after failing to return to the Philippines to face accusations.

Co, who previously served as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations during the 19th Congress, is being accused of benefiting from alleged budget insertions in this year’s national spending plan.