SENATOR Panfilo Lacson Jr. said on Friday, November 14, 2025, that one of the reported executive assistants of embattled former Ako Bicol party-list Representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, who was accused of receiving the lawmaker’s kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects, had left the country in September.
During the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probe into the flood control anomalies, Lacson, the panel’s chairperson, said that based on the report provided to them by the Bureau of Immigration, John Paul Estrada left the Philippines on September 2, 2025. He was bound for Hong Kong.
“We are now coordinating with the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime to coordinate with Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) to track the movements of John Paul Estrada and other personalities who are now abroad, whose attendance will be needed by this committee,” Lacson said.
He said the other reported executive assistant of Co, Mark Tecsay, has no reported departure.
On September 25, Orly Guteza, who claimed to be a former security aide of Co, said Estrada and Tecsay would usually receive boxes of cash in the lawmaker’s house in a posh subdivision in Pasig City.
In one instance, Guteza said ACT-CIS party-list Representative Eric Yap sent 46 suitcases of cash to Co, which were received by Estrada and Tecsay.
He said the two individuals also used to accompany them in delivering millions worth of cash to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)