NAVOTAS City Rep. Toby Tiangco urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to send a high-level delegation to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) headquarters in France to follow up on its request for a red notice for former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co.
Tiangco expressed frustration that the NBI was still waiting for official feedback from Interpol after sending its request on Nov. 23, 2025.
“Usually, the request for the red notice should have come out in three to four weeks. But it’s already more than a month, and the Philippines seems to be waiting for nothing,” he told The Manila Times.
The veteran Navotas legislator, the first member of the House of Representatives to expose “irregularities” involving Co and former-House speaker Martin Romualdez, believed that the Philippine government must send a high-level team to the Interpol headquarters to follow up on the request.
“By doing so, we could check what happened with the earlier request for a red notice. Our concerned law enforcement agencies must be determined and aggressive in hunting down Zaldy Co, who is already a fugitive from justice,” Tiangco said.
He emphasized that time is of the essence and that the NBI should exhaust all avenues to bring Zaldy Co back to the country.
“Without the red notice, Zaldy Co can still freely move and plan how to evade all the cases filed against him here in the Philippines,” he said.
He added that the issuance of a red notice will restrict Co’s movements and help track his whereabouts.
A red notice is not an arrest warrant but a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action, subject to the laws of each member country.
Co is also facing corruption and malversation of public funds charges in relation to an alleged P289.5-million anomalous road dike project in Oriental Mindoro. He is also facing plunder charges filed by the NBI.
Latest reports indicate the erstwhile party-list lawmaker signed his Supreme Court petition on Jan. 15 before a notary public in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm, Sweden.