Senators on Tuesday, April 28 called on the government to work doubly hard to make up for the “lost opportunity” of holding former party-list representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co back to the country and have him testify on the anomalous flood control projects.

Former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co (Contributed photo)

This after Department of Justice (DOJ) officials confirmed that Co is no longer in the custody of the Czech Republic, a few days after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced his arrest.

Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson said Philippine authorities are now facing an embarrassing situation after failing to act promptly despite receiving timely information of Co's apprehension by authorities in the Czech Republic.

“Simply put, it was a lost opportunity and our government has nobody to blame except itself. Failing to act with dispatch after having been timely informed of ex-Cong. Zaldy Co's apprehension by the Czech authorities now puts the government in an embarrassing situation,” Lacson said.

“Government must now exert extra effort and work double time to bring him back not only to redeem itself from this lapse but to show its sincerity and seriousness in bringing Co and his co-conspirators to justice,” he further said.

Earlier, Lacson said he plans to invite Co to the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon panel on the flood control scandal, saying he believes the former lawmaker can provide key insights as he has been described as the architect of the flood control anomalies.

“He has been described as the architect of the mess, by inserting and allocating funds particularly to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH),” he said.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said he believes the government can still alert the Interpol and use its network to apprehend Co.

Because based on the information, Gatchalian said he is surprised that Co, also a politician, is actually holding three passports. Only one was cancelled.

“So the question here is why only one passport (of his) was cancelled? The two others, apparently, can still be used. And with that is a complication as he can use it the two remaining paspports to travel around),” he pointed out.

“Having said that the next move the government should do is to alert the Interpol, use its network so he can be arrested because he has an existing warrant of arrest here that was issued by the Sandiganbayan. The government can use this to alert Interpol and issue a red notice,” he stressed.

All of Co’s passports, Gatchalian said, should be cancelled, whether he is holding a Filipino passport, diplomatic or personal.

“It’s regretful, because first of all we want to achieve justice. Secondly, he already has a warrant of arrest, and thirdly, if he cooperates, he has other information which can help in the investigation of the flood control scandal,” he said.

“Yet, this is a temporary setback. This Zaldy Co has a criminal mind. It seems he planned this before he would be caught. He already knows what to do. So if you have a criminal mind, you have different citizenships, you have different documents, you have a residency card. So in other words, he really planned this situation,” the senator pointed out.

“It’s not like he just left. He knows what he will do if he is caught, he will be detained, where he will be taken,” he further noted.

Gatchalian said that the fact Co was able to slip past authorities because of multiple passports show there were lapses on the part of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“Because they (DFA) are the ones responsible for cancelling passports. And from what I understand in the press conference of (Acting DOJ) secretary (Fredderick) Vida, he already have other passports. So that’s clearly a lapse on the part of the DFA that should now be acted upon.

“We already know there was a lapse, so let’s do our part so that his other passports would also be cancelled. The important thing is to restrict his movement. If we’re not able to restrict his movement, we will really have a hard time,” he stressed.  

Setback

Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito for his part, expressed his disappointment over the development, describing it as a “big blow” and a “setback” to the ongoing investigation into the anomalous flood control projects.

“At first we were excited… because he is considered as one of the main proponents of the flood gate corruption scandal. So of course, it feels like a big blow setback when what we expected is gone,” Ejercito said in an interview with reporters.

“I hope he comes back to tell everyone. We really want to know what happened in the biggest scandal ever in our history, or the biggest corruption scandal in our history. We really should know. Whoever is involved in this, the people should know” he stressed.

Ejercito said it is clear that Co can shed light on the various personalities who participated in the scam.

“We would want him here so that we can already find out what he knows – who participated, who were the companions,” he said.

Ejercito said he can only wish that the Philippine Embassy in the Czech Republic and local authorities made proper coordination before making the trip to Europe.

“(The embassy) should have first said that (Zaldy Co) was still there or given them information on whether he’s in custody or not before pushing (the delegates) there,” he lamented.