EDITORIAL — Come home, Zaldy Co

It might have been a case of diversionary namedropping, with as much probative value as spittle, as described by Malacañang press officer Claire Castro.

Still, the bombshell dropped yesterday by resigned Ako Bicol party-list congressman Elizaldy Co roiled the markets, pulling the Philippine Stock Exchange index to a five-year low after he implicated President Marcos in the 2025 sorcery that produced what has been dubbed as the most corrupt national budget ever.

The market performance next week will show if investors saw credibility in the response of Malacañang to Co’s main allegation – that the President had instructed his cousin, then House speaker Martin Romualdez, to insert P100 billion in the proposed 2025 outlay, supposedly for kickbacks.

Co also claimed that Romualdez had advised him – allegedly with the blessings of the President – not to return to the country as the flood control scandal erupted.

Malacañang dismissed Co’s allegations as invented, baseless and lacking evidence. Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, in refuting Co’s story, pointed out that the National Expenditure Program submitted by the executive to Congress is the President’s outlay, so there is no need for him to make budget insertions after the NEP has been submitted to Congress.

The President, Pangandaman also stressed, does not involve himself in the bicameral conference on the national budget.

Claire Castro noted that Co was deflecting blame in the flood control and budgeting scandal, and that his statements raised more questions than answers.

The best way to determine the truthfulness of Co’s allegations is for him to come home and face the charges against him.

He has claimed threats to his life in his refusal to return to the country. With his billions and his mansions, however, surely Co can afford to hire his own battalion of trusted security escorts.

He should not wait to be arrested overseas with the help of the International Criminal Police Organization – something that the government is reportedly considering in case he is holed out in a country with no extradition treaty with the Philippines.

Co is expected to face criminal indictment in court within the month. The court can then issue a warrant for his arrest, which can serve as the basis for Interpol member states to apprehend him and turn him over to the Philippines.

Whatever is the truth behind Co’s continuing stay overseas, the only way for him to prove his professed innocence is to return to the country and face the charges against him squarely.

After his bombshell, which administration officials have dismissed as a dud, it’s time for Zaldy Co to come home.