Embattled Co quits Congress amid scandal

Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co submitted his “irrevocable resignation” from the House of Representatives on Monday amid the high-stakes investigation into alleged anomalies in flood control projects, in which he has been heavily implicated.

The embattled lawmaker cited a “real, direct, grave, and imminent threat” to his security and his family as the key reason for abruptly vacating his post. He also decried the “evident denial of my right to the due process of law.”

“The Ako Bicol Partylist will inform your good office of the nominee who will take my place in the House of Representatives,” the letter read.

Monday marked the deadline for Co’s return to the Philippines after House Speaker Bojie Dy revoked his travel clearance and gave him 10 days to comply with the directive.

The move was aimed at compelling Co, who left the country for the United States to seek “medical treatment,” to return to the Philippines and confront the flood control kickback accusations hurled against him. He is now reportedly in Spain.

Aside from corruption charges related to flood control projects, Co is also facing an ethics complaint filed by Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco before the House.

Dy issued an ultimatum to Co on Friday, warning that failure to comply would prompt the House to pursue disciplinary and legal action against him.

Co assured the new Speaker that he is not in hiding and intends to return to the Philippines to face his accusers, but he cited security concerns and the public condemnation, lamenting that he has been prejudged.

The Department of Justice has placed him under an immigration lookout bulletin to track his whereabouts.

In a briefing on Monday, Dy said Co’s resignation effectively removes the House’s jurisdiction over him. Nonetheless, the House chief hopes he will return to the Philippines to face the accusations.

In his resignation letter submitted to Dy’s office on Monday, Co branded Tiangco’s complaint filed before the House ethics and privileges committee as nothing but “baseless accusations.”

Co maintained that he did not “mastermind, tolerate, or allow any supposed last-minute insertions and realignments in the 2025 GAA (General Appropriations Act).”

“It is improbable, if not absolutely impossible, that I, on my own, could make any supposed insertions without the knowledge or approval of the members of both chambers of Congress,” he said in the letter.

Tiangco, who has been critical of Co, has leveled grave accusations against his colleague, particularly his alleged role in the insertion of P13.8 billion in the 2025 GAA, which Tiangco branded as “scandalous, corrupt, and highly irregular.”

The alleged insertions were for the provinces of Abra, Bukidnon, Oriental Mindoro and Sarangani, among others, primarily for flood control projects.

Co in the 19th Congress chaired the powerful House committee on appropriations — which oversees and approves the annual budget bills, including the highly criticized 2025 GAA, which is subject to a Supreme Court proceeding and a case before the Ombudsman.

The 2025 GAA, initially set at P6.352 trillion, was trimmed down to P6.326 trillion after President Marcos Jr. vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration’s priority programs, P16.7 billion of which was for the flood control projects.

This year’s budget, dubbed the “most corrupt” budget passed by Congress, was also widely criticized for allegedly featuring padded unprogrammed and discretionary funds while the allocations to the Department of Education and state health insurer PhilHealth suffered deep cuts.

Co has been under intense scrutiny in the flood control scandal after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. named Sunwest Inc., formerly Sunwest Construction and Development Corporation, among the top 15 contractors that cornered P100 billion worth of government contracts nationwide from June 2022 to May this year.

The figure represented 20 percent of the entire P545.64 billion allotted for the project since Marcos assumed office.

The Albay-based Sunwest was established in 1997 and co-founded by Co.

The Bicolano lawmaker claimed he had long divested from the construction firm when he entered Congress in 2019, but official documents showed otherwise.

A review of flood control projects on the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website showed that Sunwest had 76 projects from 7 July 2022 to 1 May 2025, amounting to billions of pesos.

Co is also among the members of Congress accused of receiving 10 to 25 percent kickbacks from major contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya in exchange for government contracts — a claim he has categorically denied.