Arrest team fails to find 3 Sunwest execs ‘posing as hotel staff’
A team of policemen and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on Friday tried to serve arrest warrants on three persons linked to a company tagged in the flood control corruption scandal, based on a tip that they were posing as employees of a Pasay City hotel.
They failed to find their targets—Sunwest Inc. directors Consuelo Aldon, Noel Cao and Anthony Ngo—after searching the 10-story hotel, according to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police.
Aldon, Cao and Ngo are among 16 people accused of graft and malversation in the Sandiganbayan in connection with an allegedly anomalous P289.5-million road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
Also among the accused is resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, whose family owns Sunwest, the contractor of the Oriental Mindoro project.
Co, the former House appropriations committee chair in the past 19th Congress from 2022 to 2025, has been out of the country since July.
The arrest warrants were issued by the Sandiganbayan on Nov. 21.
“Based on the information that we received yesterday, they were hiding here and were posing as hotel employees … Unfortunately, they were not here. But again, our search does not stop here,” Police Lt. Col. John Guiagui, CIDG National Capital Region director, told reporters.
More than a hundred PNP and NBI personnel were mobilized for the arrest.
‘Not overkill’
Guiagui said such a number was “not an overkill” considering the place to be searched.
“First of all, how many floors does this hotel have? Ten floors. So, we have to do it in an orderly manner and fast … We’re checking them one by one—the kitchen, housekeeping. We checked all personnel there,” he said, noting that their search was made “room by room, floor by floor.”
Addressing the three wanted Sunwest executives, the official said: “Just surrender because while you may be able to hide for a day or two, we will eventually find you.”
“To all those who may be harboring them and hiding these fugitives, it’s better that you cooperate with law enforcers because we will sue you once we arrest them and find them under your protection,” Guiagui added.
The other Sunwest officials facing arrest are company president Aderma Alcazar and treasurer Cesar Buenaventura, whose last known locations were in New Zealand and the United States, respectively, according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Nine other accused, all of them former officials and employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways, have been taken into government custody earlier this week.
