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.
Chair of the Appropriations Committe
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.
Affiliation with Sunwest
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.