MANILA – Fugitive lawmaker Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co is staring down yet another high-stakes legal showdown, as gaming powerhouse DigiPlus Interactive Corp. – the brains behind BingoPlus, ArenaPlus, and GameZone – clinches an arbitration victory over Co’s Eco Leisure and Hospitality Holdings Co. in a bitter dispute tied to the Midas Hotel and Casino. The ruling, which Eco Leisure is now scrambling to overturn in Pasig’s regional trial court, piles fresh pressure on the erstwhile Ako Bicol rep, already dodging arrest warrants amid his explosive corruption whistleblowing saga.
The multimillion-peso melee traces back to 2019, when DigiPlus, eyeing an exit from the mid-tier casino-hotel venture, pegged its shares at a tidy P2.5 billion. Co’s outfit swiftly invoked its right of first refusal, pledging to match the price – but then balked at the full freight, tendering just P1 billion while slapping DigiPlus with claims of billions in unpaid reimbursements. What followed was a courtroom carousel: Eco Leisure sued to ram through the partial payout, only for DigiPlus to steamroll them in arbitration. Undeterred, Co fired back with an appeal in 2022, docketed as Civil Case R-PSG-22-02495-SP before Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 268, where the saga simmers unresolved.
“We confirm that there was an arbitration case and DigiPlus won the case,” affirmed Villaraza and Angcangco, DigiPlus’s legal eagles, in a crisp statement that left no room for wiggle. “The case remains unresolved.” The arbitration dust-up, they implied, was the clean sweep Co’s team couldn’t sweep under the rug.
Enter the plot twist: Just last Friday – mere hours after authorities raided Midas hunting Sunwest Corp. executives tied to Co’s web – lawyer Jesus Falcis lit up social media with a scorching post, branding Co a “problematic” partner unearthed through DigiPlus’s personal vetting. Falcis, no stranger to skewering infra-corruption cronies, dangled a screenshot of a March 2022 Inquirer Biz Buzz snippet hinting at a “big gaming firm… locked in a bitter dispute with its partner in a mid-size casino-hotel venture.” Co, fresh off his explosive video exposés fingering Palace insiders in rice and onion rackets, now juggles this hotel headache atop his fugitive flight from House probes and Supreme Court spats.
For DigiPlus – the Edgar “Injap” Sia Jr.-backed behemoth that’s ridden the digital gaming wave to dizzying heights – the win feels like vindication after years of boardroom bickering. But for Co, whose empire spans gaming dens to flood-fiasco contracts, it’s another arrow in a quiver already notched with warrants and whistleblower woes. As Pasig’s gavel looms, this Midas mess isn’t just a money grab – it’s a mirror to the murky deals that have defined his dealmaking days.
