The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has suspended one of the graft cases against former lawmaker Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, moving it to the archives while he stays beyond the reach of authorities half a year after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Court records document the decision in the minutes of a June 24 hearing, which were made available to journalists on Thursday. The division explained its reasoning this way: “In view thereof and considering that the Court has yet to acquire jurisdiction over the person of accused Co, let this case be ARCHIVED and the record thereof be forwarded to Judgment and Records Section, without prejudice to the reinstatement or revival of the case and its withdrawal from the archives upon the such time as the Court acquires jurisdiction over his person.” Because the court had already labeled Co a fugitive, the case will stay frozen until he is taken into custody.
Central to the court’s action was a report filed by National Bureau of Investigation agent Rehom Pimentel, who handled the warrant. His return noted that “despite efforts undertaken, the accused could not be located at the address indicated in the Warrant of Arrest.” Investigators initially went to a condominium unit registered to Co in Taguig City, only to find it shuttered. Prosecutors afterward told the court they could offer nothing beyond the address information already on file.
The charges themselves — a single malversation count alongside two graft counts — were filed in November 2025 and connect Co to a defective P289.5-million road dike built in Oriental Mindoro. Fifteen co-accused face similar charges over the same project, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government directed police to serve arrest warrants on the entire group. Co, who chaired the House appropriations committee during the 19th Congress, had already left the Philippines by that point, departing in July 2025 for what he described as a medical examination.
The path to his current fugitive status ran through several failed attempts to compel his return. Speaker Faustino Dy III canceled Co’s travel clearance on Sept. 18, 2025, giving him ten days to face questions about suspect budget insertions and the contractors tied to public works. Co answered by stepping down as Ako Bicol party list representative on Sept. 29 rather than flying home. Weeks later, in November, he circulated video statements pointing to other officials over dubious budget insertions and purported kickbacks drawn from flood control funds. His passport was voided the next month.
Co’s location abroad has surfaced in government announcements more than once. President Marcos disclosed in April that Czech authorities had held Co after he reportedly attempted to enter Germany using invalid documents, though the Czech Republic let him go within 72 hours. Malacañang’s most recent word placed him in France, where he has sought political asylum on the claim that the Marcos administration is subjecting him to political persecution.
