The Office of the Ombudsman is preparing to send its chief to France to press local authorities over two high-profile Filipinos believed to be sheltering there, part of a widening pursuit tied to the flood-control corruption scandal.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said he intends to travel to Paris within days to meet French officials, arguing that the country should not serve as a refuge for people accused of looting public funds. He placed Senator Loren Legarda and former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co in France at the same time, though he stopped short of saying whether either had lodged a formal asylum petition there, according to Abante’s TNT.
For Co, the destination is already established. In May, then reporting quoted Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla — the Ombudsman’s brother — placing the resigned lawmaker in a 10-bedroom residence along the Champs-Élysées, near a Christian Dior boutique, with the property valued at roughly 200 million euros. Zaldy Co had filed for political asylum in France around that period and remains a fugitive, having dodged proceedings since 2025.
Legarda’s presence abroad has drawn separate scrutiny. National Bureau of Investigation records cited by Philstar show she departed for France on August 2. The Ombudsman’s office has flagged her repeated extensions of a medical travel authority as questionable, with Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano describing the pattern in August as “quite suspicious” and noting the agency could not rule out an asylum bid by the senator and her son, Rep. Leandro Leviste. Both face preliminary investigation over allegations of plunder, graft, and conflict of interest linked to undelivered solar energy projects — a complaint the Ombudsman valued at around P10 billion. Legarda has denied wrongdoing, saying she would not permit unfounded claims to stain what she called an unblemished record of service.
The Ombudsman framed the planned visit as a message to governments known for openness toward asylum seekers. He suggested public sentiment in those countries could turn against harboring suspected offenders once such a reputation takes hold, telling reporters it does no favors to any nation to be seen as a hiding place for wealth taken from citizens who needed it most.
Remulla warned that the European country risks becoming a favored bolthole for Filipinos dodging prosecution. “Nagiging trend na baka doon na ang taguan nila. Paliliitin natin ang mundo,” he said.
The remarks landed the same week the Ombudsman filed a plunder case against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and three others over the flood-control mess, with Co named among the co-accused alongside a private individual and a foreign-exchange company executive.
