After Zaldy Co capture, Palace asks: Is he ready to tell the truth?

Just hours after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed that Zaldy Co, his infamous erstwhile ally at the center of a flood control corruption scandal, had been apprehended in Europe and may finally be brought back to the Philippines, Malacañang sought to frame his homecoming this way: It’s not a question of whether the President is ready for his return, but whether Co is ready to tell the truth. 

“Ang dapat na tanong diyan ay kung handa ba si Zaldy Co na magsabi ng katotohanan. Kung handa ba siya na sabihin kung sino – kung ha? Hindi natin sinasabing siya ay guilty – kung sino ba iyong kanyang mga nakasama,” Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a news briefing on April 17. 

(The question should be: Is Zaldy Co ready to tell the truth? If he’s ready to say who — and we’re not saying he’s guilty — if he’s ready to say who he colluded with.) 

Marcos himself, late April 16, announced that Co was under the custody of authorities in Prague. The President initially said Co was apprehended in the Czech Republic after being caught “without proper documentation” but later said he had been stopped in Germany and then brought to the Czech Republic.  

The President said “coordination with Czech authorities continues” but offered no other details on how the former legislator would be brought back to the Philippines. 

The flood control corruption scandal — which Co is, for the most part, at the center of — first turned public in 2025 after Marcos himself announced that the government would chase after those who profited from flood control projects that were either non-existent or substandard. When Marcos delivered his State of the Nation Address, the country was just reeling from the effects of heavy rain and extensive flooding. 

His speech later led to congressional inquiries and an ad hoc body whose tenure has since ended, supposedly after its investigation wrapped up. 

But it’s also led to a political maelstrom — both allies and foes have been dragged in the mess that’s flood control corruption. Marcos and his closest kin, cousin former House Speaker Martin Romualdez  and son House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, have also been accused, by Co, no less, of insertions in the national budget. 

Marcos and his relatives have made blanket denials of wrongdoing and urged Co — who has been out of the country since around the time the 20th Congress opened — to return to the Philippines. 

Both Malacañang and Marcos have argued that since it was the President who opened the floodgates of the corruption scandal, so to speak, then he would be the last to have much to hide. 

“Ang Pangulo, uulitin po natin, ang siyang nagsimulang magpaimbestiga ng maanomalyang flood control projects. Siya ang naunang magpaimbestiga ng diumanong korapsyon. Ang Pangulo ay handang makinig sa lahat ng maaaring sabihin ng mga taong involved at dapat na managot sa batas,” said Castro. 

(We repeat, it’s the President who initiated investigations into anomalous flood control projects. It was he who first ordered probes into alleged corruption. The President is ready to hear from those involved and those who must face justice.) 

Arrest warrants were issued against Co in November 2025 and his Philippine passport was canceled in December 2025. 

But for all the rhetoric and the framing, the most important question remains unclear: How will Zaldy Co be brought back to the Philippines? Secondary to that: When is he returning to the Philippines? 

Neither Malacañang nor the Department of Foreign Affairs have expounded on the scenarios at hand.

When those are settled, the next question would likely be: Are Marcos and Malacañang truly ready for his return? Or will this be another rollercoaster of an episode into what’s been an unpredictable flood control corruption scandal? – Rappler.com