DILG turns to Filipinos abroad in hunt for Co
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has asked Filipinos abroad to help track down resigned lawmaker and fugitive Zaldy Co, who is now wanted for his role in anomalies involving the government’s flood control projects.
In a briefing in Malacañang on Monday, Remulla said Co, the former representative of Ako Bicol party list, was believed to be hiding in Portugal and is suspected to have a Portuguese passport that he acquired “many years ago” and now uses to move around Europe.
“We are requesting all Filipinos all over the world, if you see Zaldy Co, take pictures of him and send them to authorities or post over the internet so we will have an idea about his whereabouts,” he pleaded.
The chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) could not confirm if Co was using a regular Portuguese passport or if he had availed of Portugal’s “golden visa program,” which grants noncitizens of the European Union a five-year residency permit in exchange for investments amounting to at least 500,000 euros (P34 million).
Remulla deferred to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for any information regarding Co’s reported possession of a “golden visa.”
It would be difficult to bring Co back to the country, as the Philippines currently has no extradition treaty with Portugal.
According to the DFA, there is no court order yet to cancel the Philippine passport of Co despite his warrant of arrest, although Remulla said there is a “whole-of-government approach” to capture and return him to the country.
“The DFA, the DILG, the Ombudsman, and the [Department of Justice] are all working together in order to get a satisfying outcome into the repatriation of Co back to the Philippines,” he added.
Big players
Remulla earlier said the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has already issued a blue notice, which is used to locate or identify a person of interest in a criminal investigation, for Co, adding that a red notice could be issued next to authorize police worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest him.
Remulla also committed to go after the “big fishes” in the flood control corruption scandal, as authorities race against time to fulfill the commitment of President Marcos to put at least 37 individuals in jail before Christmas.
The massive protests during the weekend also called on the government to ensure that not only the minnows or small players would be captured, but more so the “sharks and whales” involved.
“Capturing them is not the issue. They’re in the Philippines, they will definitely be caught,” Remulla said. “It is the wheels of justice turning that we are waiting for.”
According to Remulla, once his brother, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, files the necessary cases and the Sandiganbayan issues warrants of arrest against them, “we will get them. One hundred percent, we will get them.”
“Now we are already moving toward the sharks and the whales. That is where we are headed. We are getting close,” he added.
Major role
Co is a central figure in and alleged to be one of the masterminds of the corruption scandal for his role as the chair of the powerful House appropriations committee during the previous 19th Congress from 2022 to 2025.
His whereabouts remain unknown since he left in July purportedly for a medical procedure abroad, and said his refusal to return to the country was due to threats in his and his family’s lives.
He is accused of receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks, which he vehemently denies, from contractors and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, who had testified and linked him during congressional hearings to anomalous flood control projects.
A firm linked to him, Sunwest Inc., has also been linked to substandard infrastructure projects.
Co’s warrant of arrest was issued by the Sandiganbayan, along with 15 officials of the DPWH and Sunwest, after they were indicted by the Ombudsman over a road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
Of the 16 ordered arrested by the antigraft court, nine are already in government custody, while the remaining seven, including Co, remain at large.
Manhunt continues
But on Monday, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police said that two executives of Sunwest have sent surrender feelers.
“The manhunt operation targeting the three accused is still continuing. Although, two of them have already sent surrender feelers,” Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II, CIDG director, said in a briefing in Camp Crame.
“We must understand that the three accused… although we saw they have a high position in that company, they were just dragged into this. Basically, they do not have the money and capacity to pay for a lawyer by themselves,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Though Morico did not identify them, the police previously identified the three Sunwest officials being sought as directors Consuelo Aldon, Noel Cao and Anthony Ngo.
“They have a back channel with us … There were some family members who approached us,” Morico said.
Another accused, a DPWH official in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) region, was last seen in Israel, according to Morico.
Although he did not name him, the last DPWH Mimaropa official who has yet to be taken under government custody among those issued warrants by the Sandiganbayan is materials engineer Timojen Adiong Sacar. —WITH A REPORT FROM JASON SIGALES
