Has Zaldy Co run out of luck?

The detention of Mr. Co for attempting to cross the border from Germany to the Czech Republic without proper travel documents has flooded the news cycles and social media. But while the pronouncements from the Marcos administration are optimistic that Co will be returned home to face criminal charges, it is actually uncertain if the Philippine government will be able to establish sufficient legal grounds to compel his surrender to Philippine authorities, especially if it is confirmed that Co had indeed obtained a Portuguese passport.

It looks like the administration has once again jumped the gun by making premature pronouncements and raising expectations that Zaldy Co will finally be brought back to the country where he stands accused before the Sandiganbayan — risking another potentially devastating public disappointment for the Palace.

Zaldy Co, a former representative of the Ako Bicol Partylist and chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives during the 19th Congress, is alleged to have received billions of pesos in kickbacks from the massive flood control corruption scandal. He is also accused of misappropriation, budget insertions, and other anomalies in the crafting of the now-controversial 2023, 2024 and 2025 General Appropriations Act.

The Marcos administration is at a crossroads. On the one hand, if Co is brought home, convicted, jailed, and all his ill-gotten wealth recovered, justice would be served and the public appeased. On the other hand, if he comes home and reveals more than they want him to, they risk bringing the entire Marcos administration down. And it is very possible that Co has the smoking gun in his possession as insurance precisely for when all hell breaks loose, as it is about to if he is arrested and brought to court in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, VP Sara Duterte has caught a lucky break. The recent developments in the flood control and budget insertion scandal have shifted the public’s attention from the ongoing impeachment proceedings in the HoR to (again) the hundreds of billions stolen from the government coffers, which has further negatively impacted the popularity and trust rating of the Marcos administration.

At this point, it won’t even matter anymore whether or not Ramil Madriaga is credible. After all, impeachment is a political exercise and a numbers game in the Senate. Optics-wise, the huge discrepancy between the amounts involved in the impeachment of VP Sara Duterte and the flood control scandal hounding the administration have made it more challenging to justify the amount of time, effort, and money being spent towards her impeachment.

It doesn’t help the administration’s cause that many of their allies have been granted immunity and excluded from investigations and prosecution. This is especially true for those who were (some still are) part of the Marcos Cabinet who have been named as complicit in the grand scheme of siphoning billions from the public coffers but were allowed to resign and fade into obscurity, presumably to stop the tracks from leading to the Palace.

Meanwhile, factions within the Marcos administration are either busy fighting among themselves, saving themselves, or promoting themselves for 2028. If they do not get their act together, they will find themselves headed towards the path of mutually assured destruction with the DDS and Pinklawans left slugging it out again in May 2028.