The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has yet to decide on the Philippine government’s request for a Red Notice against fugitive former lawmaker Zaldy Co, Malacañang said Wednesday.
Palace press officer and Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said the application has already been submitted, but remains under review.
“But based on the information given to me, there was an issue with political persecution,” Castro said in a radio interview.
Castro said Interpol is currently scrutinizing the documents submitted by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the National Bureau of Investigation.
“We have already submitted all the requirements so that this Red Notice would be approved by the Interpol. The Philippine government is not sleeping on it,” she said.
She added that the Marcos administration continues to exert efforts to secure Co’s return to the Philippines.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier confirmed that Co is currently in Portugal.
Co is facing graft and malversation charges, which he claims stem from a political “vendetta” based on an “unproven conspiracy.”
He has also alleged that former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez instructed him to go into hiding amid an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in multi-billion peso flood control projects.
Co further accused Marcos of being the mastermind behind the supposed kickbacks tied to projects allegedly inserted into the 2025 national budget, a claim Malacañang has repeatedly denied.
Authorities earlier voided Co’s Philippine passport, but he remains at large after reportedly securing a golden visa and a Portuguese passport.