Companies linked to resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy ‘Zaldy’ Co tried to deregister three choppers from the Philippines to put these units up for sale, Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon said on Tuesday.
Dizon said that he received this information from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap).
Deregistration is an act of removing an item from an official registry.
‘Companies connected to Congressman Zaldy Co tried to deregister three choppers,’ Dizon told reporters in an interview.
‘What Caap told me is that the firms tried to deregister the units because they have plans to sell them, because you can’t sell them if you don’t deregister them first in the Philippines,’ he explained.
Dizon said that they managed to stop the deregistration, and the Caap already issued a standing order that all air assets linked to Co cannot be deregistered.
Last Wednesday, the public works and highways secretary revealed that Co has P4.7-billion worth of air assets registered under different companies.
He also said that he had already informed the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Department of Justice, and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure about the assets.
His presentation showed that Misibis Aviation owns air assets with a combined estimated value of $74.6 million (equivalent to P4.2 billion at the current exchange rate).
These assets include two AgustaWestland AW1398 helicopters worth $16 million each, a Gulfstream 350 jet valued at $36 million, two Bell 407 helicopters pegged at $3 million each, and a Bell 206B3 helicopter estimated at $650,000 (P19 million).
Hi-Tone Construction Development Corp. holds aircraft valued at a total of $7.9 million (P456 million).
Its fleet consists of a Cessna 414A Chancellor worth $700,000, an Agusta A109E helicopter pegged at $6.9 million, and a PA 31-350 Chieftain aircraft estimated at $340,000.
Meanwhile, QM Builder lists a single air asset, a Bell 505 helicopter, worth around $2 million (P114 million).
Going after Co’s assets
When asked to react to the statement of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla that Co might not return to the country, Dizon said that the government will go after all his assets, whether he comes home or not.
‘Now that the ICI filed a report before the Ombudsman, we will ask for the freezing of all his assets, bank accounts, real properties, air assets, potential sea assets, land assets and vehicles,’ Dizon said in the same interview.
‘It’s not enough to hold someone accountable and send someone to jail. The [public] funds need to be returned and this is included in ensuring that the public funds will be retrieved,’ Dizon pointed out.
Co has resigned from his post as the representative of Ako Bicol Party-list amid allegations of his involvement in the anomalous flood control projects.
In his letter to House Speaker Faustino Dy III, Co cited ‘the real, direct, grave and imminent threat’ to him and to ‘the lives of my family members.’
The resigned lawmaker has been accused of receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks, based on the testimony of contractors and DPWH officials.
The allegations came from the testimonies of dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways-Bulacan Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez that an estimated P1 billion in cash, packed in suitcases, was delivered to Co’s penthouse.
The Department of Justice has requested the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a blue notice on Co.
The notice advises the member states of Interpol ‘to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation.’ /apl