MANILA — A key suspect at the heart of a corruption scandal that sparked widespread anger in the Philippines has been arrested in the Czech Republic, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Friday.
Zaldy Co, a former Philippine congressman, fled the country and had his passport canceled after being charged in a corruption scandal over flood control projects.
The alleged crime, believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, sparked protests and arrests across the storm-battered archipelago, which was hit by hundreds of floods last year alone according to United Nations data.
Elizaldy Co was charged alongside a number of public works officials and construction firm owners in November, accused of violating the country’s anti-graft law over a flood control project in the central Philippines.
“Co was stopped at the German border after entering from the Czech Republic,” Marcos said in an update posted on X on Friday. Marcos said earlier that he was detained by authorities in Prague after crossing into the country “without proper documentation”.
Massive protests erupted last year after widespread floods paralyzed daily life across the country. Anger was also directed at so-called nepo babies or children of alleged corrupt officials who flaunt their lavish lifestyles on social media.
Marcos has made holding corrupt officials to account a priority as some opinions polls show the scandal has hurt his popularity.
Co is among those who have been accused of earning kickbacks from such projects. He was a lawmaker in the House of Representatives from 2019 until his resignation last September. He has been out of the Philippines since July 2025, local media reported.
Last year the Philippines canceled Co’s passport and reached out to Interpol to catch him.
Investigations found that years of “ghost” flood control projects had cost the economy nearly $2bn (£1.5bn).
It remains to be seen if Philippine authorities can successfully get him back to the Philippines, in the absence of an extradition treaty with the Czech Republic.
Marcos said authorities were “in close coordination with the Czech government to ensure that all legal processes are followed and to arrange for his return to the Philippines at the soonest possible time”.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said in a radio interview on Friday that Co could be back in the Philippines between one to three weeks.
Other figures who have been implicated include the speaker of the House of Representatives, who denies wrongdoing, and a lawmaker who was ousted as the president of the Senate after it was exposed that a contractor had donated money to his election campaign before winning a government bid.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year.
In November 2025, at least 85 people were killed after Typhoon Kalmaegi flooded entire towns on the central island of Cebu.
Source: Saudi Gazette