MANILA – Fugitive former congressman Zaldy Co could testify in the impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., but only if he returns to the Philippines and personally takes his oath before the House Committee on Justice, officials said.

House Justice Committee chair Rep. Gerville Luistro (Batangas’ Second District) said Co, out of the country since July 2025, has the right to testify provided he appears in person and formally swears to his statements. Co is implicated in alleged anomalies involving flood control projects.

“I think it’s everybody’s right to testify … for as long as he is willing to appear and to take his oath,” Luistro said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City. “All the evidence supporting the impeachment complaint has to be sworn in before the Justice Committee.”

The same requirement applies to all prospective witnesses, she added.

Former Quezon City congressman and Cabinet official Mike Defensor said on Friday that Co is willing to serve as a witness in the impeachment complaint.

The Makabayan bloc’s impeachment complaint, filed alongside Defensor’s, was not accepted earlier this week because House Secretary General Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil was out of the country.

Luistro said questions about the inclusion of complaints in the plenary agenda should be addressed by the Office of the Speaker and members of the House.