The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has notified Interpol of the cancellation of the Philippine passport of former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, following a resolution issued by the Sandiganbayan.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ambassador Angelica Escalona said the DFA received the anti-graft court’s resolution on 10 December, which triggered the immediate cancellation of Co’s passport.
Escalona said that once a passport is canceled, the Bureau of Immigration is promptly informed, along with law enforcement counterparts.
“We also informed the Interpol office in the Philippines, which is the Philippine Center on Transnational Crimes. This Interpol office in the Philippines will then report the passport cancellation to Interpol headquarters, which will place the passport on the alert system across international border controls,” Escalona said in a radio interview.
She explained that once flagged, the information is relayed back to Interpol Philippines, and coordination on the next steps follows.
Asked whether Co could be arrested once flagged at an airport or other international border, Escalona said the matter falls outside the DFA’s mandate.
“It would be best to direct that question to Interpol Philippines,” she said. “Interpol’s mechanisms are separate from ours. Our role is limited to cancelling the passport and reporting this to the relevant authorities.”
With the cancellation, Co is barred from applying for a new Philippine passport and effectively has no valid Philippine travel document.
Escalona said only Portuguese authorities could confirm reports that Co holds a so-called “golden passport.”