PH may invoke UN treaty in hunt for Co
The Philippine government will invoke a 2003 anticorruption accord as another way to locate and arrest fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co, according to Malacañang.
Citing Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, Palace press officer Claire Castro said at a briefing that the government could explore tapping the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (Uncac), where signatory countries are obliged to provide, as applicable and in accord with domestic law, “[the] widest possible mutual legal assistance to each other.”
The move would require President Marcos to convene the Presidential Uncac Interagency Committee to implement and monitor this mechanism.
Interagency committee
Created in 2014 by Executive Order No. 171 of then President Benigno Aquino III, the interagency committee is headed by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, with the secretaries of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as vice chair and co-vice chair, respectively.
Its members are the secretaries of budget and management, of socioeconomic planning, and of the interior and local government. It shall also cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman in the enforcement of anticorruption laws and prosecution of corruption cases.
Adopted in 2003 and ratified in 2006, the Uncac is a legally binding treaty that provides a framework for international cooperation against corruption.
Article 38 of the Uncac mandates cooperation between state parties in investigating and prosecuting criminal offenses.
Why the delay?
When asked why the Marcos administration was taking so long to track, arrest, and return Co to the Philippines despite the President’s order of a “whole-of-government” effort in the manhunt and his office’s record-high P4.5-billion confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), the Palace said that the warrants of arrest against Co and others were only issued by the Sandiganbayan on Nov. 21, and his passport was ordered canceled by the antigraft court only on Dec. 10.
“But this does not mean that it will take an extremely long time [to arrest Co]. We have seen how the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government), DOJ, and the DFA were working to accomplish this,” she said.
Marcos earlier committed to put at least 37 individuals, including Co, in jail before Christmas Day, for their supposed involvement in billions of pesos of graft-laden flood control projects in the past years.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson had earlier suggested that the Philippine government tap the Uncac to track down and apprehend Co.
“Imagine, 192 countries signed the convention. If we tap the resources of 191 other countries, you can imagine how our efforts to locate and arrest Co will be easier,” Lacson said.
Portuguese passport
Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla asked Filipinos abroad to help in tracking down Co, who is believed to be hiding in Portugal.
While his passport was already canceled last week, Co was said to have acquired a Portuguese passport “many years ago,” which he now uses to move around Europe.
The Philippines has no extradition treaty with Portugal.
According to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Portugal has not received any information on Co’s whereabouts. It could also not confirm from the Portuguese government whether it had granted a passport to Co.
The Philippine government earlier requested Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) to upgrade the “blue notice” it had issued against Co to a “red notice” so authorities could determine his location, effect his arrest, and start extradition proceedings.
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 province.
Co, the former chair of the powerful House appropriations committee in the 19th Congress from 2022 to 2025, left the country in July just before the start of the congressional inquiries. He has refused to return to the Philippines due to alleged threats to his and his family’s safety.
