Marcos wants all options explored to get hold of Co
President Marcos has ordered concerned government agencies to explore all possible options to repatriate former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co.
The lawmaker, who once headed the powerful House committee on appropriations, faces three criminal cases arising from the public works corruption scandal but has also made explosive claims in a series of videos accusing Mr. Marcos and his cousin, former Speaker Martin Romualdez, of receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Tuesday said the President’s directive wanted them to see if Co can be extradited from Portugal, where he was last believed to be located.
“We are still studying it because the situation is complicated. We don’t have an extradition treaty (with Portugal), but there are other avenues we can pursue that he wants to look into,” Remulla said.
The government is weighing other options, including coordinating with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the United Nations, and other international agencies “we can pass through,” he added.
No extradition treaty
Remulla’s remarks appeared to clarify his earlier statement at a Palace briefing where he said Mr. Marcos had ordered that the extradition treaty with Portugal be invoked to bring Co back to the country.
“A treaty will take too long. A treaty takes years and years to do. So the other avenues possible, as instructed by the President, are on how we can carry out his extradition without going through a treaty,” he said on Tuesday.
Through repatriation, a person may be returned to his or her home country either by choice or by force. Extradition, meanwhile, is a legal process where one country hands over a person accused or convicted of a crime to another country to face trial or punishment.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) canceled Co’s Philippine passport on Dec. 10 last year upon orders by the Sandiganbayan antigraft court.
Remulla, however, said Co may also be using a Portuguese passport for the past 10 years.
According to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon had yet to receive information on Co’s whereabouts or any confirmation from the Portuguese government that it had indeed granted a passport to Co.
Negotiate deportation
Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima on Tuesday said the Marcos administration should pursue negotiations with Portugal to have Co deported to the Philippines, instead of working on an extradition treaty that would take more time and effort.
“[His] deportation can be immediately negotiated diplomatically, even without the formality of entering into an extradition treaty,” De Lima said. “An extradition treaty is not indispensable for the return of a fugitive to his country.”
Co is facing three warrants of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan, along with 15 officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways and Sunwest Inc., who were indicted by the Ombudsman for graft and malversation of public funds over an anomalous P289.5-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
A resigned representative of Ako Bicol party list, Co is accused of being one of the masterminds in the flood-control corruption scandal for his role as the chair of the powerful House appropriations committee during the 19th Congress from 2022 to 2025.
In a series of videos he released while in hiding, Co alleged that up to P57 billion in kickback money passed through him and was delivered to the President and former Speaker Romualdez from 2022 to 2025.
The Palace and the former House leader strongly denied the allegation.
