Manila, Philippines – December last year, when the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) canceled the diplomatic passport of former Ako Bicol Partylist Representative turned fugitive Zaldy Co, according to the DFA itself.
Co’s other regular passport expired in September 2022, which the former lawmaker could have used to cross to Germany from the Czech Republic.
This is because the DFA immediately reported to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) that Co’s diplomatic passport had been canceled, last year.
Based on the DFA’s confirmation, there were two passports issued for Zaldy Co, but his diplomatic passport has been canceled by the government, and the former lawmaker’s regular passport expired in 2022.
With both of them being unusable according to the DFA.
In a statement from the Malacañang Palace on Tuesday, the former lawmaker is no longer in the custody of the Czech Republic and is in France.
Both Palace Press Officer Atty. Claire Castro and the DFA confirmed that Co is seeking political asylum while in Germany.
Co was reportedly placed in Czech custody for violating immigration while attempting to cross into Germany.
This is said to have frustrated the president, who failed to bring back the former lawmaker implicated in corruption in the government’s flood control project.—Alvin Pelobello, Eurotv News