DOJ seeks Interpol help to track down Zaldy Co
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will request the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a blue notice—which basically calls on member countries to gather more information—on Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizalde “Zaldy” Co.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla “has already given instructions to apply for a blue notice from the Interpol through our local offices,” DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano said on Friday.
He said the move to get the Interpol involved was based on the inquiry conducted by the Senate) blue ribbon committee “as well as the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) recommendation to prosecute” the lawmaker, who left the country in July for United States.
During his absence in the country, Co’s name has repeatedly cropped in congressional hearings as alleged recipient of kickbacks from public works projects and as one of the lawmakers behind questionable insertions in the national budget.
Color notices
According to the Interpol website, the color-coded notices are intended to “enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide.”
A yellow notice, for example, is issued to help “locate missing persons, often minors,” while blue notices advice the Interpol’s member states to “collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation.”
A red notice “seeks the location and arrest of persons wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence.”
Flood works, fishing
Besides being tagged as among the lawmakers receiving kickbacks from substandard or nonexistent flood works projects, Co has also been accused of introducing insertions last year in the current national budget and owning air transportation assets worth a whopping P4.7 billion.
Before the House of Representatives terminated this week its investigation into flood-control projects, Co was also revealed to have requested fish import allocations amounting to 3,000 containers on behalf of three companies, one of them ZC Victory Fishing Corp.
Co, last reported to be have gone to the US for medical treatment, had his travel clearance revoked by recently elected Speaker Bojie Dy last week.
Letter to Speaker
Co on Thursday wrote Dy a letter, copies of which were released by his office to the media, saying he “received news of your revocation of my travel clearance with both sadness and grave concern.”
He said he was “saddened that [our] colleagues in the House…would deprive me of the time needed for medical care [which] I have long previously scheduled.”
“I have every intention of returning to the Philippines,” Co said. “I am also intent on belying the false claims made against me before the proper forum.”
“Yet, I am very much apprehensive about what awaits me should I return to the Philippines, given that the public and your good office have prejudged me,” he added.
Co’s letter did not specify a date for his return.
On Friday, Dy said he wrote back to Co and referred his letter to the House committee on ethics.
He also gave Co until Sept. 29 to return to the country and answer the allegations against him in person.
Failure to comply “will result in the initiation of appropriate disciplinary and legal actions,” the Speaker said.
Co also addressed the first importation issue in his letter, saying he “made no such request” for ZC Victory since he had “nothing to do with this company.”
He explained that ZC stands for Zamboanga City and not Zaldy Co.
2 aides speak out
Also on Friday, two former assistants of Co, Mark Bunagan and Allan Colesio, denied allegations by a former colleague who had testified before the Senate that they served as “bagmen” or couriers of cash for lawmakers.
Bunagan and Colesio issued separate affidavits belying Orly Regala Guteza’s testimony before the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday saying he and other aides delivered suitcases filled with cash to the homes of Co and then Speaker Martin Romualdez in Taguig.
Colesio said he “never saw, heard, or participated in any alleged transport of suitcases of money.” He added that Guteza stopped reporting for work in early August.
Bunagan, meanwhile, accused Guteza of falsely claiming that the latter was hired as a security consultant of Co’s party-list group in December 2024, adding that they only started working together in February this year.
Like Colesio, Bunagan also denied any knowledge of the money deliveries Guteza spoke of. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
