Where is Zaldy Co? The vanishing act of a Filipino congressman implicated in mega-kickbacks mess

Manila: As typhoon floods still lap at the ankles of beleaguered residents of several provinces, one question echoes louder than the roar of relief helicopters: Where is Zaldy Co? 

The Filipino congressman reportedly went to the US for medical treatment, but has left America for a yet-unknown place.

France, Spain, or somewhere in East Asia? Or did he slip into a hiding place in his home region of Bicol (about 600km south-east of Manila)?

The Ako Bicol party-list congressman, once a fixture in the halls of power, has evaporated into the ether. He was last spotted in New York on August 26, 2025, before slipping off the radar on September 13. 

Filipino expats in the US, Middle East and Europe are now playing detective, urged by viral social media pleas to tip off, if they spot his face in a crowd.

But as the House ethics committee mulls sanctions and the DOJ floats an Interpol Blue Notice to track his "identity, location, or activities," whispers swirl: Is this a medical retreat, a political exile, or the opening scene of a grander fugitive saga?

Zaldy Co's background

Elizaldy “Zaldy” Salcedo Co, born December 8, 1970, in Legazpi City, Albay, embodies the Bicolano-dream-turned-cautionary-tale.

Raised amid the shadow of Mayon Volcano, he traded code for concrete early on.

An engineering grad, he snagged an MBA from Aquinas University in 1998, arming himself for the cutthroat world of infrastructure. 

That same year, he and brother Christopher "Kito" Co launched Sunwest Construction and Development Corporation — a modest outfit that ballooned into a ₱86.1 billion behemoth by 2025, snagging nearly half its contracts in their home turf.

Politics beckoned in 2019, when Zaldy succeeded Kito as Ako Bicol's House rep — a party-list powerhouse he'd chaired since its 2010 debut. 

By 2022, in the 19th Congress, he ascended to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee, wielding the budget pen like Excalibur. 

He authored several bills, lobbied Duterte for airport fast-tracks, and even directed the Tourism Infrastructure Authority from 2018-2019. 

From landslide barriers at Bicol International Airport to beachfront resorts like Misibis Bay, Sunwest's empire spanned roads, real estate, and even a fleet of five helicopters and private jets worth ₱4.7 billion.

Re-elected for the 20th Congress in July 2025, his star seemed ascendant — until the great deluge.

The scandal erupted post-Typhoon Christine, exposing a multi-billion flood control fiasco where 70% of funds allegedly vanished, or became outright ghost projects. 

President Marcos Jr. named Sunwest and affiliates like Hi-Tone among the top 15 contractors gobbling billions.

Testimonies poured in: Contractor-couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya fingered Co for kickbacks; ex-DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez confessed to hauling ₱1 billion in suitcases to his Taguig penthouse; Henry Alcantara alleged ₱8.75 billion in payoffs — 25% shares funneled through Co's "bicam" insertions in the 2025 budget. 

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco spotlighted ₱13.8 billion budget “realignments” favouring Sunwest.

Authorities seek Co for the Senate Blue Ribbon probe and House ethics grilling — his absences (twice excused, thrice unnotified since July 28) smack of evasion. 

New House Speaker Bojie Dy revoked Co's travel clearance on September 18, demanding return by the 28th — or face expulsion.

Death rumours fizzled (he's alive, fact-checkers confirm), but his BGC condo sits eerily empty.

Fis former security guard had testified during a Senate hearing about about multi-million stash of cash in kickbacks made by Co, even linking former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a close buddy of Co in Congress, in the tongpats mess. 

Officially, Co's in the US for "medical treatment," but a September 26 letter to Dy vows a return "to bely false claims," fretting "public hatred" and prejudgment. 

Yet as his son Ellis publicly disowns him — “I'd rather be disowned than watch millions suffer” — and overseas Filipino workers rally for deportation, darker theories brew. 

Is Zaldy hunkered in a Gulfstream hideout, deregistering jets to vanish for good?

Or plotting a comeback, leveraging Bicol loyalties? 

With Interpol potentially on the prowl and ethics sanctions looming, his timeline — from 1997 startup to 2025 no-show — reads like a thriller begging its sequel.

If Co's truly the unicorn he claims, he'll surface soon. If not, the floods may claim another victim: faith in its leaders.