IN a radio interview on Thursday, Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla provided a public update on the status of the government’s efforts to bring Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co — the fugitive ex-lawmaker and central figure in the massive flood control corruption scandal — to justice, and the news was not encouraging. Co remains in Portugal, where he has citizenship by virtue of holding a “golden passport,” residing in a gated village in the capital Lisbon.
While Remulla tried to put the best face on the situation by describing Co as being in virtual hiding and highlighting efforts here in the Philippines to confiscate Co’s vast assets, the underlying message was painfully clear: there is nothing the Philippines can do to compel Co to return and face the music, and unless a way is found to make that happen, the entire effort to resolve the flood control corruption scandal to the satisfaction of an angry public is in serious jeopardy. Not only has Co stolen a march on the government with respect to the scandal, his escape exposes the broad and possibly terminal rot in this country’s system of government.
“Escape” is an entirely correct word to use to describe Co’s flight from justice here in the Philippines. As has been frequently reported, the immediate problem facing the government is that there is no extradition treaty between the Philippines and Portugal. There is also no extradition arrangement between the Philippines and the European Union as a whole, although there is a partnership and cooperation agreement that helps facilitate investigation and monitoring in cases of corruption or organized crime.
Remulla’s implication that seizing Co’s assets here in the Philippines might prod the ex-legislator into returning on his own is laughable. It is already well-known that Co was able to evacuate a substantial amount of wealth — most notably, a small fleet of expensive private aircraft — from the Philippines before being forced to flee himself. It is also known that he owns a number of properties in the United States, and likely has additional financial assets available to him there. Even in Portugal alone, his acquisition of a passport would have required, at a minimum, an investment of 500,000 euros (P34.7 million at the current exchange rate). That he is residing in an upscale and well-guarded private village and evidently has his own household and security staff would indicate that the resources available to him in his “adopted” country are considerable.
The biggest fish of all in the flood control corruption scandal has gotten away. While there are efforts afoot to try him in absentia, that is a poor substitute for actual accountability. As it stands, legal experts, including a retired Supreme Court justice, have told us that Co’s case does not meet the narrow standards that make a trial in absentia permissible, precisely because he fled the country when he did.
However, this case goes far beyond a clever criminal mastermind taking advantage of legal loopholes and the somnambulist pace of our justice system. Co is who he is and has been able to get away with it because our political system does not just have poor safeguards against unethical behavior, it actually facilitates it. We have a budgeting system that leaves hundreds of billions of pesos in floating funds that can be easily manipulated, and a party-list system that allows business interests to directly control seats in Congress. What laughably inadequate rules we do have regarding business or financial conflicts of interest of government officials are blatantly violated, as are those concerning campaign and political financing. Even something that should be an obvious red flag, such as an elected official holding a foreign passport obtained through a program known to be used as an “escape hatch” for people seeking to hide ill-gotten wealth, or themselves, is more often than not completely ignored.
Without Co, the true scope and depth of the flood control corruption scandal will never be known, and accountability for it will inevitably be incomplete. And without that accountability, the fundamental dysfunctions of our system that found their ultimate expression in the scandal cannot be corrected. If this administration is truly sincere in its pursuit of justice and breaking the cycle of corruption, it must stop its public hand-wringing over Zaldy Co, and use any means at its disposal to bring him back.