Content creator Camille Co has set the record straight that she is not related to the other Co being called out on social media for the latter’s lavish lifestyle amid flood control project issues.
On Wednesday, August 27, the blogger quipped about holding a sign that says, “Not related to the Co’s going viral at the moment,” after some Filipinos mistakenly linked her to singer-vlogger Claudine Co, daughter of a construction company owner.
Claudine’s father is Christopher Co, a former Ako Bicol party-list representative and owner of the Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corporation.
She is also the niece of Rep. Zaldy Co (Ako Bicol party-list), who is a co-founder of Sunwest.
Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corp. and Sunwest are among the contractors flagged by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for bagging the most number of flood control projects in the country.
The contractors were those granted millions of funds by the Department of Public Works and Highways for the supposed construction of flood control projects.
However, most flood control projects initiated since 2022 lack key details, with 6,021 out of 9,855 failing to specify the type of structures built, according to Marcos.
This accounts for 61.1% of the total, representing P350 billion expenditure. The combined cost of these projects is about P545 billion, or roughly half a trillion pesos.
Meanwhile, other contractors listed include the Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp. and the St. Timothy Construction Corp., which Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has identified as being linked to the Discayas.
Claudine and Camille
Claudine is facing criticism after Filipinos scrutinized her lifestyle, highlighting her family’s use of private planes, frequent international vacations, and her penchant for designer clothes, branded bags and shoes.
Reports said she has since deactivated her YouTube and Instagram accounts in response to the criticism of her lavish lifestyle.
Some Filipinos, upon discovering that they share the same surname, mistakenly linked her to Camille, a fashion and lifestyle content creator.
However, Camille has since clarified that she is not related to Claudine in any way.
“Nanahimik ako dito,” she wrote in an Instagram Story on Wednesday with a rolling-on-the-floor laughing emoji.
“In all seriousness, I’m not related to anyone in politics [or] construction. (Pati na rin Puregold, since we’re clarifying things, lol),” Camille added.
Puregold is a chain of supermarkets co-founded by Lucio and Susan Co.
She also updated her Instagram bio to include the phrase, “No, I’m not related to them.” It was accompanied by a flying money emoji.
“You know what, let’s put it here para clear,” she wrote with a laughing-with-tears emoji.
Camille also clarified that while her husband, Joni Koro, is also in the construction industry, his firm “cannot contribute anything to flood control.”
She said that Pieni Surfaces can only “do wonderful things” to people’s floors and walls.
Camille also took to the X (formerly Twitter) and the Meta-owned Threads platform to disprove that she was related to Claudine.
“Imagine my surprise opening my TikTok and discovering a ton of comments because of the viral Co’s. I’m not related to them, nor do I know them. Why naman, Lordttttttt,” she wrote on Threads on Wednesday.
“I’m not an heiress, just a hardworking kweeeeeen working hard for my own goals and for my family’s future. I thank you, bow,” Camille said in another Threads post.
“Bakit kasi ang daming Co?!? There’s not one famous Co in my fam [family]. They’re all very private. No one is in politics, the government, nor construction,” the blogger also responded to an online user on X.
“One last time for the people in the back: I am Camille. Not Claudine. Spell it with me now: C-A-M-I-L-L-E. Also, Google is free. (Unlike those people’s corruption-funded shopping sprees.),” she wrote on Thursday, August 28.
Camille is a Filipino-Chinese content creator who gained prominence as a fashion and lifestyle blogger in the early 2010s. She became one of the most recognizable names in the Filipino blogging community before transitioning to digital content creation on YouTube and Instagram. — with reports from Philstar.com/Jean Mangaluz
