Zaldy Co’s coaccused seeks hospital arrest after stroke
MANILA, Philippines — A coaccused of former party list Rep. Zaldy Co in a malversation case before the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division filed an urgent motion seeking hospital arrest on Thursday.
Juliet Calvo, the former maintenance division chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Region IV-B, suffered a stroke on Aug. 5, her lawyer Edwin Labro told the court.
Quoting the findings of Calvo’s doctor in a private hospital, Labro said that she was left paralyzed and “unable to communicate” although her condition is “stable and critical.”
Prosecutors did not object to the motion of Calvo who, together with Co and several others, face a nonbailable charge for malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents over alleged irregularities in a government infrastructure project.
But Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez, the division chair, said they would first summon her physician for questioning before ruling on the motion for hospital arrest.
On July 21, Calvo took the witness stand to defend herself, saying her signing of a document which led to the release of funds for an allegedly anomalous project, was merely ministerial.
The Supreme Court had said in a previous ruling that an act is only considered ministerial when it does not require the exercise of discretion or judgment and is done in obedience to the mandate of a legal authority.
The charge against Calvo stemmed from a P289.4-million road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, that state prosecutors said was found to have serious structural deficiencies.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, who inspected the project site, discovered that the road dike only had a three-meter steel sheet pile (SSP), well below the 12-meter requirement.
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Substandard
But a certificate of inspection (COI) dated March 18, 2024 and signed by Calvo declared that the SSPs in the project were compliant.
The COI was one of the requirements for the first progress billing for the project contractor identified as Sunwest Inc., an infrastructure and development company cofounded by Co.
The former Ako Bikol party-list representative chaired the powerful House committee on appropriations before he resigned in September last year after he was tagged in the multibillion flood control corruption scandal. He left the country and has not been seen since.
The antigraft court earlier declared Co a fugitive from justice, which means he can no longer participate in the proceedings and could not seek any judicial relief unless he surrenders voluntarily.
