Just hours after President Marcos himself announced yesterday that the passport of former congressman Elizaldy Co had been canceled, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that this had been done.
The passport was canceled after the Sandiganbayan ordered the arrest of Co, who resigned as Ako Bicol party-list representative rather than return to the country to face the grave accusations against him related to budget anomalies and corruption in flood control projects.
With Co’s passport canceled, the next step for the government is to bring him back to the country as soon as possible.
This is not only to hold Co accountable, but also so he can show the nation that the serious allegations he made in several videos against top officials are not just figments of his imagination, meant to muddle the cases against him and several private contractors as well as former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Co is believed to be in Portugal, which has no extradition treaty with the Philippines. He is also believed to hold a Portuguese passport.
But the Philippines has extradition treaties with only 13 countries plus the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and extradition is not the only mode for Manila to get custody of fugitives from Philippine justice.
Arnolfo Teves Jr. fled to Timor-Leste and applied for asylum, claiming political persecution, after being indicted as the alleged mastermind in multiple murders in his home province of Negros Oriental, including the assassination of former provincial governor Roel Degamo.
But the Philippines used government-to-government channels to work for Teves’ return to the country. Timor-Leste declared Teves a threat to its public order and security and deported him last May.
Alice Guo also sneaked out of the Philippines and fled to Indonesia, but local police in Jakarta arrested her in September and turned her over to Philippine authorities. This followed the arrest in August of Guo’s sister Sheila and co-defendant Cassandra Li Ong also by Indonesian authorities.
Apart from working with foreign governments, the Philippines can also seek help from the International Criminal Police Organization to arrest Filipino fugitives. Membership carries with it commitments for cooperation. Interpol has 196 member states including Portugal.
So it won’t be impossible to bring Co back to the Philippines. His return will dispel persistent speculation that the Marcos administration itself does not want him back because in the budget and flood control mess, Zaldy Co knows where all the skeletons are buried.