Waiting for Co
President Marcos’ late-night announcement last week that fugitive Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co was arrested in the Czech Republic rekindled hopes that a reckoning is finally within reach for the masterminds and key players involved in the plunder of billions of pesos in flood control projects.
It had been nine months since the President’s “mahiya naman kayo” speech, where he exposed massive corruption resulting in substandard or nonexistent flood mitigation projects. An independent commission formed to investigate has since closed shop. Charges have been filed against several public works officials, private contractors, and a former senator. But where are the big fish?
As former chair of the powerful House appropriations committee in the previous 19th Congress, Co is a central figure in the fund allocations and congressional budget insertions for questionable projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). DPWH officials, who testified in various probes, accused Co of receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks from private contractors and public works officials.
Companies owned by Co’s family were among the 15 contractors that the President identified as cornering around P100 billion of the P545 billion flood control budget from July 2022 to May 2025. An Inquirer report, citing DPWH data, said two companies owned by Co and his brother cornered P86.1 billion worth of flood control projects from 2016 to 2025.
Very grave accusations
The Sandiganbayan had ordered Co’s arrest and cancellation of his passport after graft charges were filed against him and 15 DPWH officials over an anomalous P289.5 million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
Co, however, turned the tables on the President and former Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom he named as the beneficiaries of billions of kickbacks from the ghost projects. In video messages posted on his Facebook account in November last year, Co said he delivered cash to Mr. Marcos and Romualdez as kickback from P100 billion insertions in the 2025 national budget allegedly made on orders of the President.
“In total, P25 billion went to Bongbong Marcos,” Co said in the video message, which Mr. Marcos and Romualdez vehemently denied. Co’s accusations jibed with claims by alleged former soldiers who said they delivered hundreds of billions in cash stuffed in suitcases to the President and the Speaker.
These are very grave accusations one can hurl at the highest officials of the land, which Co cannot preach from the safety of his hiding places abroad. He must be brought back to personally attest to his accusations, and answer for his own hand in the corruption of public funds.
Conflicting details
But hopes for Co’s imminent return were quickly dashed as conflicting details emerged about the circumstances of his arrest. After announcing on Thursday night that Co was detained by Czech authorities after trying to enter the country without proper documentation, Mr. Marcos said the next day that the ex-lawmaker was stopped at the German border after crossing from the Czech Republic. “He was denied entry and returned to Czech authorities, where he remains in custody,” the President said.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said it would take up to three weeks before Co could be returned to the country, but some legal experts raised the possibility that Co could seek political asylum. International law experts Ralph Sarmiento and Rodel Taton said in an Inquirer report that in the absence of an extradition treaty between the Philippines and the Czech Republic, the swift return of Co would now depend on the diplomatic negotiations between the two countries.
They said Co could seek asylum or refugee status on grounds that he is being persecuted in the Philippines. If he indeed has a golden visa from Portugal, the experts said Co could also ask that country to block his deportation, which will further complicate and delay his return.
Multiple probes
Considering that Co had been on the run since July last year, the Philippine government had been slow in tracking down Co’s whereabouts abroad and confirming information that he had previously obtained a Portuguese passport. Its request to the International Criminal Police Organization for a red notice that would pave the way for Co’s arrest was made back in November last year, but this has not been acted upon.
Co was accosted for an immigration violation, not as a result of the Philippine government’s efforts.
With multiple probes and possible jail time awaiting him back home, Co is expected to use his extensive resources to fight deportation and throw a monkey wrench into investigations of the flood control scandal.
The concerned government agencies must do a better job now that no less than the President’s promise to bring Co back to the country is on the line. Co’s prompt return is a prerequisite for the search for the truth, no matter how inconvenient it may be.
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