Red Notices have been issued by the Interpol, according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, for three of the most wanted in the Philippines: gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang, former corrections chief Gerald Bantag and former police superintendent Rafael Dumlao III.
The Red Notice is a request for foreign governments to help find and provisionally arrest the person covered by the Interpol alert.
Officials have expressed belief that the three fugitives are still in the Philippines, so local authorities must do better in finding them. Anyone found to have assisted the fugitives in evading arrest must also face criminal prosecution.
Because of their backgrounds, all three wanted men are suspected to be enjoying the protection of law enforcers themselves.
The billionaire Ang, wanted for the disappearance of dozens of cockfighting aficionados, is known to have had state forces on his payroll as personal bodyguards.
Bantag was pulled out of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to head the Bureau of Corrections. Radio broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa was murdered after accusing Bantag of corruption and other anomalies as BuCor director.
Dumlao is the convicted mastermind of the kidnapping and gruesome execution of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo inside Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine National Police.
Jee was seized from his home in Pampanga in the guise of an anti-narcotics raid by Dumlao’s PNP unit, at the height of Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. Jee’s widow paid P3 million in ransom, which was never recovered.
If authorities can’t or won’t find Dumlao, they should at least find out if the dirty money has been used by his wife, who reportedly works at the National Bureau of Investigation, and their family. Is Dumlao enjoying NBI protection?
Remulla, whose department has jurisdiction over the PNP, admitted frustration over the failure to find the fugitives. He said he told the police: “There are what, 200,000 of you, and you cannot find three people?”
They can’t be found if no one is looking. Even Interpol Red Notices in other countries may be useless without sufficient follow-through from Philippine authorities.