LIFE+STYLE: Nation | PROFILE: Who is Zaldy Co?

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He is a central figure in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, and has been staying abroad since mid-2025 supposedly to seek medical treatment.

Since then, he has resigned from his position as representative of Ako Bicol Party-list, and his name tagged into anomalous flood control projects, including those constructed by his family’s Sunwest Corp.

Born in Legazpi, Albay in 1970, Co finished his primary and secondary education in Albay, before taking computer engineering from AMA Computer College.

A businessman by profession, he and his brother Christopher Co founded Sunwest Construction and Development Corporation (SCDC) in 1997. It is involved real estate, energy, and tourism industries.

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Co had his start in working with the government’s flood control and road projects under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the early 2000s, with Sunwest securing several contracts.

His company would continue to work with the government in its infrastructure projects, mostly in the Bicol region.

In 2019, Co divested from Sunwest Corp., following his election as Ako Bicol Party-list representative. He was re-elected for a second term in 2022.

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As a member of the House of Representatives, Co was appointed as chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, a position he held until he was removed in January 2025.

Following the investigation into anomalous flood control projects, Co’s name was further swept into the controversy after several Department of Public Works and Highways officials tagged him as among the high-ranking government officials who earned kickbacks from substandard or missing anti-flood infrastructures that amounted to hundreds of billions of pesos.

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He was also accused of allowing last-minute insertions in the 2025 budget. Co would later claim that he received instructions to insert P100 billion worth of projects in the 2025 national budget from Marcos through Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Co resigned as Ako Bicol Party-list representative in September 2025, months after he left the country supposedly to seek medical treatment abroad.

He, however, refused to return, later claiming that he was instructed to “stay out of the country”.

In November, the Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants for Co and several others in relation to the infrastructure scandal. In December, Marcos announced that Co’s passport has been cancelled, but authorities believe he could be using a foreign passport.

Last month, Marcos confirmed that Co is in Portugal, and the government has been working to bring him back to the country.

Co previously released a series of videos implicating Marcos in the nationwide corruption scheme, but the President and the Malacañang denied the allegations.