PH Embassy in Portugal has no info yet on Zaldy Co —DFA

The Philippine Embassy in Portugal has yet to receive any information on resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday.

“Wala pa po silang (Philippine Embassy) impormasyong naibigay sa amin. Wala pang report (they have not provided any information yet. There is no report so far),” DFA spokesperson Angelica Escalona said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

On Wednesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that Co’s passport has been canceled.

The former House appropriations committee chairman left the country for medical reasons.

He has yet to return to the country amid the ongoing investigation into budget insertions and flood control projects, for which he has maintained innocence against allegations thrown against him.

Escalona explained that once the DFA cancels a passport, it will be reported to the Bureau of Immigration and then to the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, which will report it to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Interpol will then put the passport in its alert system at all international border controls.

However, Escalona said the DFA cannot answer if Co has a foreign passport.

“Hindi lahat ng Pilipino na nakakakuha ng foreign citizenship at foreign passport ay nagre-report sa DFA,” she said.

(Not all Filipinos who have foreign citizenship and foreign passports report to the DFA.)

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Thursday said that it has started coordinating with Portugal, as Co is suspected to have a Portuguese passport.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation asked Interpol to issue a red notice against Co.

The Sandiganbayan earlier declared Co as a "fugitive from justice" and ordered the cancellation of his Philippine passport by the DFA.

Co and 16 others are facing malversation and graft charges before the Sandiganabayan over a P289-million substandard road dike project in Oriental Mindoro built by Sunwest Corporation, a firm owned by Co's immediate family members. —KG, GMA Integrated News