Joselito Malig

‘Umuwi muna siya’: Palace snubs Zaldy Co’s political persecution remark

Article (news)

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Malacañang on Friday shrugged off former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co’s claim that the graft and malversation charges filed against him stem from political “vendetta” based on an “unproven conspiracy.”“Umuwi muna siya sa Pilipinas,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a Palace briefing when asked to comment on Co’s petition against the Office of the Ombudsman that was lodged before the Supreme Court earlier this month.Co — whose Sunwest Corporation scored numerous public contracts despite his government post — left the Philippines to seek treatment abroad in mid-2025, before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. lambasted member of Congress over billions-worth of useless flood control projects.Co refused to return to the Philippines, claiming that he was instructed by former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez to stay away from the country while the government investigates anomalous transactions between lawmakers and contractors of public projects.Co has also tagged Marcos Jr. as the recipient of billions-worth of kickbacks from projects that were anomalously inserted into the 2025 national budget.Both Marcos Jr. and Romualdez denied his allegations.The Philippines has canceled Co’s passport since last year, but the resigned lawmaker remains at large allegedly due to a golden visa and passport from Portugal.Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla claimed that Co has been holed up in a gated community in Lisbon, but a document sent to the Supreme Court showed that the fugitive politician was in Sweden.So far, the government has expanded its manhunt against Co to the Scandinavian country, but yet to say if they have successfully traced the whereabouts of the billionaire fugitive.

Malacañang on Friday shrugged off former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co’s claim that the graft and malversation charges filed against him stem from political “vendetta” based on an “unproven conspiracy.”

Malacañang on Friday shrugged off former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co’s claim that the graft and malversation charges filed against him stem from political “vendetta” based on an “unproven conspiracy.”