Results soon on Zaldy Co, Atong Ang hunts?

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Friday that fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co’s “world is getting smaller” as Philippine authorities continue efforts to secure his arrest abroad.

Remulla said Co, wanted in connection with an alleged P289.5-million ghost flood control project in Oriental Mindoro, is believed to be staying in a luxury property along the Champs-Élysées in Paris while seeking asylum.

He admitted being the one who told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that Co had been nabbed in Prague, the Czech Republic, information that proved false, the Department of Justice later confirmed.

Remulla claimed the information regarding Co’s “arrest,” as trumpeted by a press release of the Presidential Communications Office, came from the Bureau of Immigration.

Meanwhile, he said the government is pursuing an Interpol red notice against Co, which would allow authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest him pending extradition.

Remulla said the request was filed last September and authorities are seeking weekly updates from Interpol.

Co faces graft and malversation charges tied to the allegedly anomalous flood control project. “We’re working very hard. We are not going to stop there,” he said.

Meanwhile, Remulla said that gambling tycoon Atong Ang remains in the Philippines and has narrowly avoided arrest several times during ongoing operations linked to the missing sabungeros case.

Remulla said authorities nearly caught Ang in Cavite after raiding a house allegedly owned by his girlfriend, where operatives reportedly found food plates indicating he had just fled.

About 300 Criminal Investigation and Detection Group personnel joined the operation.

Ang, who faces kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges, has allegedly been moving around the Calabarzon region every two days to evade arrest.

Authorities have offered a P10-million reward for information leading to his capture.