Fugitive Zaldy Co arrested in Czech Republic

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'We are in close coordination with the Czech government to ensure that all legal processes are followed and to arrange for his return to the Philippines at the soonest possible time,' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says

MANILA, Philippines – Fugitive former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co has been arrested in Prague, Czech Republic, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Thursday, April 16.

“He is now detained in Prague after crossing into the Czech Republic without proper documentation and is currently in the custody of Czech authorities. We are in close coordination with the Czech government to ensure that all legal processes are followed and to arrange for his return to the Philippines at the soonest possible time,” Marcos said on X on Thursday night.

Co, who chaired the House appropriations committee for the first half of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presidency, is alleged to be the mastermind of the hocus-pocus in the national budgets.

Co has been in hiding since July 2025, after Marcos blew the lid wide open on public works corruption in his State of the Nation Address. 

A subsequent press conference by the chief executive named Sunwest as among the top public works contractors of the government. The briefing complemented Rappler’s report months before the scandal, detailing Co’s beneficial ownership of Sunwest, which has bagged billions of pesos in government projects. 

He later resigned from Congress after refusing to face calls from Speaker Bojie Dy — who revoked his travel clearance — to go home.

Co is facing multiple criminal cases filed by the Ombudsman with the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in connection with alleged misuse of public funds tied to the flood control scandal. 

These include graft charges stemming from an alleged substandard flood control project by Sunwest in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, worth P289 million. 

Co claimed there are serious threats to his life, and in his video statements, alleged that Marcos and Romualdez are framing him to be “the poster boy of their own lies.”

He alleged that he made the budget insertions upon the orders of the President. – Rappler.com