Philippines weighs using UN anti-corruption treaty for Zaldy Co’s extradition

The Philippine government is weighing whether a United Nations anti-corruption treaty can help track down and extradite a former lawmaker accused of being one of the masterminds behind the billion-peso flood control scandal and believed to be hiding overseas. Presidential press officer and undersecretary Claire Castro said Manila was studying a proposal by Senator Panfilo Lacson to tap the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to help locate and extradite former congressman Zaldy Co. Co, who faces charges of corruption and malversation over billions of pesos allegedly misappropriated in infrastructure projects, is suspected to have fled to Portugal. “We can explore UNCAC as it has international cooperation mechanisms but it will have to depend on the country,” Castro said on Monday, reading a statement from Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro. “Countries are obliged to provide as applicable and in accord with domestic law the widest possible mutual legal assistance to each other.” Bringing Co back has become a priority for Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s administration, which has cast the case as a test of its anti-corruption drive and accountability for public works spending. Legal experts caution, however, that the effort could be complicated by the lack of an extradition treaty with Portugal and limits the Philippines accepted when it ratified the UNCAC. Marcos announced on November 21 that an arrest warrant for Co had been issued in connection with a substandard 289.5 million peso (US$5 million) flood control project in the province of Oriental Mindoro. Co was one of the legislators first tied to the controversy because of his links to construction companies – particularly Sunwest, which had cornered the lion’s share of flood control projects in 2022. During Co’s time as appropriations chair from 2022 until January this year, Sunwest was awarded billions of pesos in government infrastructure projects. Testimonies from public works engineers also tied Co to anomalous budget insertions of at least 35 million pesos from 2022 to 2025. However, Co has denied the allegations and said that he divested from the firm in 2019. Out of the Philippines The former lawmaker has been out of the country since July, with reported sightings of him in Portugal. On Wednesday, Marcos announced that Co’s passport had been cancelled. However, the former lawmaker is suspected of carrying a second Portuguese passport “acquired so many years ago”, as revealed by Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla on December 1. “We are pleading to all the Filipinos around the world, if you see Zaldy Co, please take a photo of him, post it online so we can find him. But right now, our suspicion is that he is currently living in Portugal,” Remulla told local reporters. Lacson said in a radio interview that the UNCAC, which was adopted in 2003 and ratified by the Senate in 2006, would provide a legally binding framework for international cooperation against corruption. The senator said the treaty, adopted in 2003 and ratified by the Philippine Senate in 2006, was legally binding and provided a framework for international cooperation against corruption. “Imagine, 192 countries signed the convention. If we tap the resources of 191 other countries, you can imagine how our efforts to locate and arrest Co will be easier,” he said on Saturday. The senator, who is also a former national police chief, cited a provision in the UNCAC that mandated countries to cooperate in investigating and prosecuting criminal offences. Urging the ombudsman, as well as the departments of justice and foreign affairs, to look into how they could use this option, he said it would complement the Philippines’ request to Interpol to issue a red notice against Co. ‘Shaping its narrative’ Legal experts say that the Philippines can explore the UNCAC as an option in ensuring Co’s extradition, but warn that the government has to take extra caution in “shaping its narrative” as nations may refuse to extradite an individual if they are believed to be a subject of political persecution. “This could be a stretch to apply to Zaldy Co, but the Philippines must be careful about the narrative it is shaping,” said Michael Tiu Jnr, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law and an international and comparative law fellow at the University of Michigan Law School. Paolo Tamase, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, said that the Philippines could face complications in tapping the convention to seek Co’s extradition as the country had declared during its ratification of the treaty that “the UNCAC could not be used as a basis for extradition with other states”. “While the Philippines can withdraw that declaration, I understand it has not done so to date,” Tamase told This Week in Asia, adding that the UNCAC might not guarantee a foreign country’s cooperation. However, Manila can make use of other measures under the convention to smoke out Co’s whereabouts, according to Tamase. This includes the freezing of assets and other methods of international cooperation apart from extradition. Having a Portuguese passport might help Co avoid these problems, “but it’s also possible that the relevant foreign immigration authorities would flag him as having a criminal record, in which case his second passport becomes useless”, he added. While the UNCAC could be a pathway to bring Co home in the absence of an extradition treaty between the Philippines and Portugal, Tiu said that the convention might “not be a straightforward approach”. The Philippines will have to first confirm Co’s condition of stay or citizenship in states where he may travel to or be found. “This complicates the legal regime applicable,” Tiu said. Co’s possession of a Portuguese passport means that protections applicable to the country’s citizens would apply to him as well. “The UNCAC says if the requested state denies extradition on the basis of the person being its national, [the Philippines] can ask that the case be submitted to local authorities for prosecution. So they would prosecute him, not the Philippines,” Tiu said. In general, though, Portugal, like other countries in Europe, is widely seen to be compliant with the UNCAC, according to Tiu.

Philippines weighs using UN anti-corruption treaty for Zaldy Co’s extradition

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The former lawmaker, who is facing charges linked to the Philippines’ flood control scandal, is suspected to have fled to Portugal

The former lawmaker, who is facing charges linked to the Philippines’ flood control scandal, is suspected to have fled to Portugal