Interpol mum on Co notice

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has not yet acted on the government’s application for a Red Notice to bring back fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said yesterday.

In a radio interview, Castro said the application for a Red Notice against Co had been submitted to Interpol.

“But based on the information given to me, there was an issue with political persecution,” Castro said.

She said Interpol is currently studying the requirements submitted by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the National Bureau of Investigation.

“We have already submitted all the requirements so the Red Notice would be approved by Interpol. The Philippine government is not sleeping on it,” she said.

Castro said the Marcos administration is doing its best to arrest Co where he is, which is in Portugal, as confirmed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week.

Vendetta alleged

Co has claimed that the graft and malversation charges filed against him stem from a political “vendetta” based on an “unproven conspiracy.”

Co is currently in hiding, claiming that it was on the instruction of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, while the government probes the anomalous transactions between lawmakers and contractors in the anomalous multibillion-peso flood control projects.

The sacked lawmaker tagged President Marcos as the mastermind of the flood control corruption who received billions of pesos in kickbacks from projects that were inserted into the 2025 national budget.

This has been repeatedly denied by Malacañang.

Co’s Philippine passport was voided since last year, but he remains at large reportedly after acquiring a Portuguese golden visa and passport.