Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco on Wednesday renewed his call for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to cancel the passport of resigned Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co.
He also wants the department to compel his return to the Philippines to face investigation over the alleged misuse of public funds in anomalous flood control projects.
Tiangco issued the statement after the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) subpoenaed Co to appear at its Oct. 14 hearing on the multi-billion-peso flood control scandal that has implicated several lawmakers and contractors.
‘Time is of the essence. He must be compelled to come home at the soonest possible time and not given any more time to be able to secure another passport or citizenship in another country,’ Tiangco said.
‘If the DFA continues to dilly-dally and he is able to secure a passport in a country with which we have no extradition treaty, who will be accountable for this?’ the lawmaker asked.
Co, who served as the House appropriations chair in the 19th Congress, resigned from the House in late September following mounting public scrutiny over alleged irregularities in flood control projects linked to his company, Sunwest Inc.
He and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez are also being accused of masterminding the irregular insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that led to the enlargement of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget.
His current whereabouts remain unclear, though his official excuse is that he has sought medical treatment in the United States for an undisclosed condition.
House Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy had ordered him to come home within 10 days in a Sept. 19 letter revoking his travel clearance – but Co instead decided to resign his post on Dy’s deadline.
Before Co stepped down, Tiangco filed an ethics complaint against the former appropriations chair to compel him to explain these issues.
Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales herself questioned why Romualdez did not move to cancel Co’s passport while he was still speaker, especially after Dy was linked to multibillion-peso insertions to fund questionable flood control projects.
‘He (Romualdez) seems to be covering for him,’ Carpio-Morales told ANC.
Tiangco echoed her sentiment, saying that the cancellation of Co’s passport was both justified and urgent given the gravity of the allegations.
‘I fully support the position of former Ombudsman Carpio-Morales. Zaldy Co should be sent home immediately. Now that there is a subpoena from the ICI, there is no reason not to cancel his passport. What is being discussed here is the people’s money,’ he emphasized. /apl