MANILA, Philippines — Resigned Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co and 17 others ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan have until tomorrow to surrender or face the full force of the law, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Friday.
Remulla issued the warning as police officers have started searching for Co and his other co-accused who were ordered arrested by the anti-graft court in connection with an anomalous flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
“We’re giving you until Monday to surrender to the nearest government agencies,” Remulla said in an interview in Filipino over dzMM Friday night.
Should Co and the others ignore his warning, Remulla said they would be considered fugitives from justice, with the department using all its instruments and power to have them under government custody.
“All bets are off, if they show even the slightest aggressive maneuvers or evasive maneuvers, baka magpasensyahan kami (they might really be sorry),” he said.
As head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Remulla has supervision over the 230,000-strong Philippine National Police.
Police officers yesterday went to one of Co’s properties, a condominium unit in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, but the former lawmaker was nowhere to be found.
Operatives of the Quezon City Police District, meanwhile, went to the residence of one of the accused – Department of Public Works and Highways accountant Lerma Cayco – in Barangay South Triangle in Quezon City but she was nowhere in sight.
Remulla did not reply when asked by The STAR if any of Co’s co-accused were already under custody.
Hiding in China?
Based on intelligence reports, Remulla said Co was in Japan last Monday but already left the country on Thursday for China. From China, Co went back to Europe, the DILG chief said.
Remulla earlier said Co might seek refuge in China or Russia, where Philippine diplomatic ties do not extend to police matters, or in Malaysia and Portugal, with which the Philippines has no extradition treaty.
When asked about former House speaker Martin Romualdez who is also embroiled in the flood control scandal, Remulla said they would readily apprehend the congressman if a court issues an arrest warrant. “We will not discriminate here; the law is the law,” he said.
In a statement issued yesterday, Remulla said enforcement will not depend on personalities or politics, stressing that anyone issued a warrant would be apprehended.
In efforts to arrest Co and his co-accused, Remulla said public funds must be protected and integrity in government upheld at all times.
“The DILG will enforce the law and ensure that accountability proceeds as it should, for the safety and welfare of our people,” he said.
‘Justice calling’
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), for its part, has also called on Co and the others to surrender, as “justice is calling.”
In separate statements, NBI officer in charge Angelito Magno said all respondents should surrender now while it’s still “a choice, not a consequence.”
“In law, there is no later—only comply or be compelled,” Magno said. “The process will be much easier if the suspects surrender themselves to authorities and much harder if they get chased,” he pointed out.
“Face the warrant now. Justice is calling—better to meet it than to run from it,” the official said. Magno said his agents are prepared to protect the suspects from harm.
“The NBI stands ready to take them into custody safely and lawfully, but we remind them that courage is shown not by escape but by facing justice head-on,” he said.
Only Co is believed to be outside the country.
“Hiding will not change the evidence, the charges, or the reach of the law,” the NBI chief said.
Members of the NBI-Organized and Transnational Crimes Division went to the DPWH Region IV-B office and some residences in Quezon City to serve the warrants against the accused, but they were not in these areas.
Operatives from the Southern Police District (SPD) and the Taguig Police Station attempted to arrest Co at his alleged penthouse in the Shangri-La inside Bonifacio Global City.
Police arrived at around 11 a.m. yesterday only to see the unit’s door sealed with tape.
The duty and security managers stationed in the luxurious complex said it has been that way “for almost a month,” according to the SPD, indicating “non-occupancy.”
It was in that penthouse where kickbacks from flood control projects were allegedly delivered in 2022 and 2023, according to an interim report by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure.
“Validation, surveillance and monitoring efforts remain ongoing to locate and apprehend the accused for prompt service of the warrant,” the SPD said in a message to The STAR.
Personnel from the Quezon City Police District also proceeded to the residences of construction division chief Dominic Serrano, material engineer Timojen Sacar, and Sunwest board member Anthony Ngo, but found none of them.
National Capital Region Police Office spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo told radio dzMM yesterday that its personnel will check all addresses listed in the warrants.
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), meanwhile, has hailed the issuance of arrest warrants, calling the move of the Sandiganbayan an important step toward holding the perpetrators of anomalies in flood control projects accountable.
“The release of the arrest warrant by the Sandiganbayan is important in prosecuting the culprits of the flood control scandal,” ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said in a statement yesterday. “This signals the start of the court process to attain justice for the public.”
The ICI added that the arrest warrants “may now serve as a legal basis” to bring Co home and have him face the charges against him.