MANILA — A fresh wave of scrutiny has engulfed Pagadian City mayor Samuel Co as long-standing inconsistencies in his family’s civil registry records resurface, raising renewed questions on whether the local chief executive was born to parents who were already Filipino citizens at the time of his birth.
The controversy intensified after Bilyonaryo News Channel’s Agenda reported that several documents tied to Co’s birth and parentage do not match official civil registry records, echoing the earlier citizenship controversy involving dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.
Co’s birth certificate states that he was born on March 10, 1966, at “Clinica Santo Niño” in Pagadian City to parents Co Tek Chun and Co Sy Suat Kim, but investigators found that no such clinic ever operated in the area.
Efforts to verify civil registry documents for his parents also yielded no results, with no birth, marriage, or death certificates found in initial searches — even as both individuals were confirmed to be buried at a Chinese cemetery in Pagadian.
Discrepancies were also noted in the birth records of Co’s older brothers, Alexander and Wilson. Alexander’s certificate identified both parents as Chinese nationals from Ching Kiang, China, while Wilson’s document appeared to have had entries altered — from “Chinese” to “Filipino” — with their mother’s birthplace indicated as Pukien instead of Ching Kiang.
These irregularities have sharpened questions over the timeline of the family’s supposed naturalization and whether Mayor Co was indeed born to parents who had already acquired Filipino citizenship.
Co, however, strongly denied the allegations, insisting that he is a Filipino and that his parents had completed the naturalization process before he was born.
The Pagadian mayor, who is linked to at least 10 businesses across Pagadian, Ozamiz, and Iligan, is no stranger to controversy. He was arrested in 2013 for alleged involvement in the Aman Futures investment scam, one of the biggest financial fraud cases in the country. His wife, Priscilla Ann, was likewise arrested. Co secured bail in 2016 and successfully returned to public office the following year.
He continues to serve as mayor of Pagadian City./PN
