DILG to Pinoys overseas: Take photos of Zaldy Co

With their strong global presence, Filipinos overseas may help locate fugitive former Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said yesterday.

- By RAINIER ALLAN RONDA and ALEXIS ROMERO

“Tm appealing to Filipinos around the world that if they see Zaldy Co, please take photos of him and post them in the internet so that we'll have an idea where he is,” Remulla said at a briefing yesterday at Malacafiang.

The Sandiganbayan has ordered Co’s arrest on graft charges for his alleged involvement in a ghost flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.

Remulla said Co is suspected to be currently in Portugal, holding a Portuguese passport. “We believe he is a holder of two passports. Not only a visa, but two passports. There, we see some complications,” he said.

He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which he heads, as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman are working together to attain “a satisfying outcome on the repatriation of Co.”

Asset recovery

As investigations on flood control anomalies continue, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) convened concerned government agencies yesterday for its third asset recovery meeting, this time with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. in attendance.