Resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy ‘Zaldy’ Co will seek legal remedies in due course as the embattled former lawmaker faces a slew of arrest warrants and possible new graft and plunder charges on his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
‘For now, we trust that regular procedures were followed on the arrest warrants. We will therefore take our remedies in due course,’ his lawyer, Ruy Rondain, told the Inquirer.
Meanwhile, Rondain said he reserved the right to comment on the Department of Public Works and Highways’ recommendations to file plunder and graft charges against Co and his former boss, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, ‘until after I’ve verified the facts.’
On Friday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself announced that the DPWH and the Independent Commission on Infrastructure recommended the prosecution of Romualdez and Co in relation to their possible involvement in anomalous government infrastructure projects.
At the same time, the government has since issued arrest warrants against Co and 17 officials of contractor firm Sunwest Corp., which he founded, also for their involvement in ghost flood control projects.
This after Co came out with a three-part bombshell testimony accusing Marcos and Romualdez of getting P56 billion in kickbacks from P100-billion worth of insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.
Both the Palace and Romualdez have denied Co’s allegations.
If ever, this would the first time that the former Speaker, who is Marcos’ cousin, would be criminally liable since the flood control corruption scandal broke out in August following disclosures by the President himself that only 15 companies out of 2000 nationwide accounted for nearly 20 percent of the over P500 billion worth of flood control contracts across the country from 2022 to 2025.
These companies included Sunwest and Hi-Tone. Co is a co-founder of Sunwest while Hi-Tone was founded by his brother, Christopher Co.
His brother preceded him as representative of Ako Bicol party-list, serving in the House from 2010 to 2019. Co took over as Ako Bicol representative from 2019 until he resigned as congressman on Sept. 29 while he was abroad.
Co, who was also chair of the House appropriations committee, had said that he and his family were ‘no longer affiliated or shareholders’ in Sunwest since 2019.