Police had been ordered to monitor the movements of Ong with the possibility of serving a warrant for his arrest at any moment.
Security lapses, however, prevented the possibility of issuing a warrant for Ong’s arrest after the former NBI official slipped out of the seminary Monday night in the company of three bishops, a priest and several key opposition supporters.
Ong and his four-vehicle convoy managed to shake off police and military pursuers in a wild chase that ended in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
Emerging from the seminary, the convoy drove towards Rockwell in Makati City then to Peninsula Hotel along Ayala Avenue before proceeding to Alabang.
Ong managed to elude his pursuers after changing vehicles near Don Bosco along Pasay Road.
It was there that the military and police agents, some riding in motorcycles with the media close behind, lost track of the former NBI official.
Ong’s counsel, former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, said they merely wanted to secure Ong. She promised to present Ong, but only if a court order was issued.
Chato stressed they could easily bail out Ong even if he is arrested, since wiretapping or possession of wiretapped material is a bailable offense.
Once charges are filed, Chato said they would post bail on his behalf.
Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said they had leads on Ong’s hiding place.
"More or less we have information where Ong has been taken. If and when we need him, we can easily find him," Bataoil said in Filipino.
"Somewhere sa south po ang ating monitoring, but leave it that way," he said.
Bataoil stressed the PNP would ensure Ong’s safety. "We will ensure his safety. We will protect him (once he is in our custody) unless he takes his own life. But we will make sure he won’t do it," Bataoil said.
The NBI also claimed to know the new hideout of Ong.
Though refusing to elaborate, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said they were poised to serve the warrant of arrest anytime against Ong.
Wycoco claimed they had received information that Ong planned to "disappear" to evade charges.
But Wycoco doubted the Catholic Church had a hand in spiriting away Ong from the seminary.
Wycoco recalled that Ong was asked to leave his sanctuary for violating an agreement with officials concerning media interviews.
Authorities said that, by making public the alleged conversations between President Arroyo and an election official, Ong was complicit in the illegal wiretapping.
Police said Ong could also be charged with inciting to sedition in calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation.
The NBI and the PNP are conducting case conferences to draft the criminal charges against Ong.
Wycoco said the sedition case against Ong will be based on his statements calling Mrs. Arroyo an "illegitimate president."
He said the NBI itself would act as the main complainant in the criminal case against their former official.
The case will be filed before the Department of Justice anytime today, Wycoco said, adding the NBI was still studying whether to file charges of wiretapping.
While the NBI is busy attending to the charges against Ong, the PNP will be tasked to look into the alleged "illegal detention" of T/Sgt. Vidal Doble, an agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who was also holed up inside the seminary.
Doble was later turned over to his superiors in Camp Aguinaldo last Monday, a few hours before Ong was smuggled out.
Doble was the agent believed responsible for the eavesdropping on Mrs. Arroyo’s phone conversations.
He was among the agents of the Military Intelligence Group-21 suspended last week for supposed "high profile" wiretapping activities. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Michael Punongbayan, Edu Punay, Jose Rodel Clapano, Evelyn Macairan