Source: PDI
MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo is convinced that Sen. Panfilo Lacson will resurface soon now that he is no longer a wanted man.
“If he is outside the country, this will allow him to come home immediately. But if he is just here, he should just come out,” Robredo told reporters after attending the World Water Day celebrations with President Benigno Aquino III at Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Lacson was removed Tuesday from the Interpol’s “red” notice list on the request of the National Bureau of Investigation following an order from the Court of Appeals nullifying the arrest warrant issued against him.
Lacson was reported to have fled the country in January last year after the Manila Regional Trial Court issued the arrest warrant in connection with the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
The senator claimed he was being persecuted for exposing corruption cases against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband.
The red notice list requires 188 Interpol member-countries to immediately notify Interpol Manila once Lacson is spotted or arrested. While on the list, he could be deported, depending on existing treaties, or extradited.
Robredo said the tracker team that he formed to find Lacson had failed to find the senator.
The interior secretary acknowledged that the tracker team had checked leads on possible hideouts of Lacson but these all turned out to be false.
“He was reported to have been sighted sometimes in Quezon City, Batangas and Cebu but he was not there,” Robredo said of Lacson.
So did that mean Lacson was not really hiding in the country?
Robredo said that if Lacson was indeed just hiding in the country, the tracker team just couldn’t find him.
Claro de Castro Jr., NBI Foreign Liaison Division chief, said the senator had been stricken off the red notice list and no longer appeared in the Interpol’s automated search facility.
“As soon as we were informed of the decision of the Court of Appeals regarding the lifting of the arrest warrants issued against Senator Lacson, we (NBI) immediately requested the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) for the lifting of the senator’s name in the Interpol red notice,” De Castro told reporters.
He said it was the PCTC that communicated with the Interpol Tuesday morning for the immediate removal of the senator’s name from the list.
Request from lawyers
In a letter sent by the NBI to PCTC executive director Felizardo Serapio, NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula highlighted the March 18 decision of the Court of Appeals sixth division requesting Lacson’s removal from the red notice list.
Gatdula also cited a request letter from the Poblador, Bautista and Reyes law office seeking the removal of the senator’s name from the list.
In February last year, the NBI asked the Interpol to include Lacson in the Interpol’s red notice list.
The request for the senator’s inclusion was based on the arrest warrant issued by Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 against Lacson.
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MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo is convinced that Sen. Panfilo Lacson will resurface soon now that he is no longer a wanted man.
“If he is outside the country, this will allow him to come home immediately. But if he is just here, he should just come out,” Robredo told reporters after attending the World Water Day celebrations with President Benigno Aquino III at Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Lacson was removed Tuesday from the Interpol’s “red” notice list on the request of the National Bureau of Investigation following an order from the Court of Appeals nullifying the arrest warrant issued against him.
Lacson was reported to have fled the country in January last year after the Manila Regional Trial Court issued the arrest warrant in connection with the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
The senator claimed he was being persecuted for exposing corruption cases against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband.
The red notice list requires 188 Interpol member-countries to immediately notify Interpol Manila once Lacson is spotted or arrested. While on the list, he could be deported, depending on existing treaties, or extradited.
Robredo said the tracker team that he formed to find Lacson had failed to find the senator.
The interior secretary acknowledged that the tracker team had checked leads on possible hideouts of Lacson but these all turned out to be false.
“He was reported to have been sighted sometimes in Quezon City, Batangas and Cebu but he was not there,” Robredo said of Lacson.
So did that mean Lacson was not really hiding in the country?
Robredo said that if Lacson was indeed just hiding in the country, the tracker team just couldn’t find him.
Claro de Castro Jr., NBI Foreign Liaison Division chief, said the senator had been stricken off the red notice list and no longer appeared in the Interpol’s automated search facility.
“As soon as we were informed of the decision of the Court of Appeals regarding the lifting of the arrest warrants issued against Senator Lacson, we (NBI) immediately requested the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) for the lifting of the senator’s name in the Interpol red notice,” De Castro told reporters.
He said it was the PCTC that communicated with the Interpol Tuesday morning for the immediate removal of the senator’s name from the list.
Request from lawyers
In a letter sent by the NBI to PCTC executive director Felizardo Serapio, NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula highlighted the March 18 decision of the Court of Appeals sixth division requesting Lacson’s removal from the red notice list.
Gatdula also cited a request letter from the Poblador, Bautista and Reyes law office seeking the removal of the senator’s name from the list.
In February last year, the NBI asked the Interpol to include Lacson in the Interpol’s red notice list.
The request for the senator’s inclusion was based on the arrest warrant issued by Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 against Lacson.
