Former partylist representative Zaldy Co was charged with cases of malversation and graft at the Sandiganbayan Friday in relation to alleged kickbacks from a P77 million alleged anomalous flood control project in Balagtas, Bulacan.

In a statement after the filing, the Office of the Ombudsman said that the complaint also included multiple officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office.

Some of the individuals named in the fresh charges were personalities in the case against former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, namely Brice Ericson Hernandez, Arjay Domasig, Jaypee Mendoza, Juanito Mendoza, and Christina Mae Pineda.

Members of the Co’s staff in John Paul Estrada and Mark Tecsay were also implicated in the crime as co-conspirators.

Notably, despite being found to have been participatory in the issue, former District Engineer Henry Alcantara’s name was not included in the filing due to his status as a state witness under the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program.

The subject project in the case was a riverbank protection structure that was meant to be situated along the Balagtas River in Purok 4, Barangay San Juan, Balagtas, Bulacan.

The contract for the project was awarded to SYMS Construction Trading, the contractor that was also cited in the Revilla malversation and graft cases.

Similar to the project in Pandi, state investigators also found that the Balagtas riverbank project was also supposedly ghost in nature.

“The project supposedly started last February 24, 2025 and was declared to be 100 percent accomplished on May 2, 2025. However, upon inspection it was non-existent,” the charge read.

Another matter that the Ombudsman noted was the pattern in how SYMS carried out the documentation of the structure, stressing that there were multiple “irregularities” in the Monthly Certificates of Payment and Statements of Work Accomplished.

The anti-graft body further stated that it had found that the respondents had acted in a “collective” manner, particularly when it came to Co’s role in including the project in the 2025 National Expenditure Program.

“Co’s participation was therefore necessary or indispensable in this elaborate scheme of embezzling funds intended for flood control projects,” the resolution said.

The officials, on the other hand, were said to have been viewed as a conspirator in the crime for their “evident bad faith” and “gross inexcusable negligence” when it came to inspecting and certifying that the project was in fact completed.

The particular charges that were charged against the respondents were one count of graft for violation of Section 3(e)--charging officials that cause undue injury to the government–and one count of malversation of public funds through the falsification of public documents.

The case marked the latest charges filed against Co, however, the former congressman remains at large and is reportedly seeking asylum in a foreign country.