THERE are a few things that are publicly known about Zaldy Co, the fugitive former party-list congressman whose rise from a middling public works contractor in the 1990s to one of the top public works contractors in the country, was nothing short of phenomenal. Co even scaled the pinnacle of power — something normally outside the reach of a party-list representative — when he was named chairman of the powerful House appropriations committee at the start of the Marcos Jr. presidency. How Co wormed his way into the power center of the House, then secured that powerful chairmanship courtesy of his closeness to former speaker Martin Romualdez, is by itself an interesting story.
It is public knowledge, though, that the ousted former speaker had — for reasons known to himself — a proclivity for naming public works contractors-cum-congressmen as top congressional leaders. One such congressman came from my province — former House representative Aurelio “Dong” Gonzalez.
With Co’s arrest in the Czech Republic a few days back and his expected arrival in the country soon, many expect Co to do a “tell-all,” which simply means he would divulge every lurid detail of public works-centric corruption in the country in which he was allegedly a major actor. And corruption in the other government agencies, where Co allegedly dipped his hands. There is also this expectation that Co’s “tell-all,” if indeed truthful, detail-rich and encompassing, will be a cathartic moment for the country. It will shake up every power center of government, given the existence of deeply entrenched and widespread corruption across the bureaucracy.
But, in a sense, it will also be liberating. The truth will set us free, as they often say, never mind the political consequences of Co’s revelations. Never mind who gets hurt or who gets dragged into his big reveal — if truthful. Never mind the political aftermath of his testimony, again, if truthful.
And if, indeed, truthful and sincere, Co may well start with his own alleged expansive money-making ambitions starting in the year 2016, the start of the Duterte administration.
From mid-2016 to mid-2025, available data said that Sunwest Construction and two other construction companies linked to Co bagged a staggering P86.1 billion of government public works projects. The Marcos government awards totaled more than P15 billion; the rest were public works contracts awarded from 2016 to mid-2022, the Duterte years.
The general public, though, is totally in the dark about Co’s other award grants outside of the public works sphere, bids won from other government agencies outside of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Which should be detailed in an expansive, truthful “tell-all.”
For example, is it true that Co’s other corporate entities were low-key suppliers in the corruption-ridden P42 billion funds released for emergency Covid-containment purposes, P11 billion of which were awarded to a newly incorporated, undercapitalized entity called Pharmally Corp? The P42 billion fund disappeared in a morass of illegal and questionable purchases, at a time when the national economy was struggling from the impact of Covid and people were dying due to the underwhelming response from the government. Of the P42 billion procurement fund released by the Department of Health, how much did the Co-owned companies corner? Were Co’s firms, indeed, part of what is now known as the Pharmally scam?
Was a firm identified with Co, indeed, the major supplier of the overpriced laptops that was one of the most publicized corruption scandals at the Department of Education during the Duterte administration? Co has to answer allegations that his thirst for government contracts extended beyond his original business, which was public works contracting.
The allegations said Co dipped his hands into the many tentacles of the bureaucracy that can be corrupted: DPWH, DOH, DepEd.
Did he attempt to corner major fish import permits from the Department of Agriculture (DA) during the current Marcos administration, at a time when he was head of the powerful House appropriations committee? One of the firms seeking a fish import permit was allegedly ZC (which means Zaldy Co) Victory Fishing Corp.
If that allegation is true, Co did not confine his government-centric business to public works contracting. He wanted to be the Napoleon of government contracts, with his interests spread out far and wide, moving into agencies and public spheres with contracts and permits to award. Beyond his back, detractors said Co had a “Napoleonic complex.” Napoleon had his Grande Armée. Co had his many firms and corporate entities allegedly spread far and wide in the bureaucracy.
Easily, this would be the most damning part of his “tell-all.” How many of the incumbent and former senators and congressmen allegedly ceded their pork barrel allocations to Co? Meaning, these scums-cum-lawmakers just handed over the paper documentation of their projects to Co in exchange for their “tongpats,” allegedly in the range of 20 to 30 percent of the project cost?
Instead of “transacting” with private contractors and regional and district engineers of the DPWH, which is time- and effort-consuming, these incumbent and former lawmakers just ceded their pork barrel rights to Co in exchange for cash.
Nice and easy and hassle-free. And like the “transactions” between old-fashioned gangsters, these deals were supposed to be governed by the law of “omerta” or total silence. Will Co keep his end of the bargain in his coming “tell-all?”
