Co-linked Sunwest ranks 286th among top 1,000 firms

MANILA, Philippines — Sunwest Inc., a contractor linked to Rep. Zaldy Co, has ranked 286 in BusinessWorld’s Top 1,000 Corporations in the Philippines 2024.

Co has been implicated in anomalous budget insertions as the government probes ghost and substandard flood control projects nationwide.

The company posted gross revenues of P14.34 billion in 2023, which is 14.6 percent higher year-on-year, based on BusinessWorld data.

Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corp., co-founded by Co’s brother Christopher, is ranked 642.

Hi-Tone saw its gross revenue rise by 4.9 percent to P5.84 billion, based on 2023 data.

Sunwest and Hi-Tone were among 15 contractors who cornered 20 percent of the P545-billion budget for flood control projects nationwide since the start of the Marcos administration.

Sunwest reportedly obtained over P10 billion, while Hi-Tone secured over P4.8 billion.

Dy: Wait for Co

Amid calls for Co’s return to the Philippines to address corruption allegations, Speaker Faustino Dy III wants to observe due process after ordering Co to return from the United States.

Co has been missing since the flood control scandal erupted.

The lawmaker is allegedly seeking medical treatment in the US.

His absence is seen as one of the reasons behind Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez’s resignation as speaker.

Critics are urging the government to hold Co, former appropriations committee chair, accountable for anomalous budget insertions.

“Let’s wait and give Co 10 days to reply. We still don’t have a response or update yet,” Dy said yesterday in a chance interview.

If there is no response, “the House leadership will discuss if Co will have to face the ethics committee… to make sure that he will come home,” he added.

On Sept. 18, Dy revoked Co’s travel clearance and urged him to return to the Philippines within 10 days.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong had identified Co as one of the lawmakers involved in the flood control mess.

Another Teves?

Co might suffer a fate similar to that of former Negros Oriental lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr., who is facing multiple criminal charges and was deported from Timor-Leste this year, according to Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro.

Teves is facing charges over the assassination of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo in 2023. — Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero