24 August 2024 | 11:25 AM
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice, acting on the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said it has taken steps to identify and hold accountable officials found to have helped Alice Guo and her associates escape the Philippines.
“We take the president’s directive very seriously. This is a matter of national importance and we will be fully committed to our investigation,” Justice Department spokesman Mico Clavano said Friday.
Lucky South 99 founder Cassandra Lee Ong and the ousted mayor’s sister Sheila Rial Guo were arrested by Indonesian immigration authorities at Mega Mall Batam Centre in Riau province, Indonesia, on August 20 last year.
National Investigation Agency director Jaime Santiago explained that the charges against Sheila and Ong are bailable but they will remain in custody on arrest warrants issued by the Senate and House of Representatives.
Santiago also said Sheila and Ong’s regulation period was extended because Friday was a holiday.
He said this period would last until 8 a.m. Tuesday, during which time both chambers would be handed over to the Senate and House of Representatives.
“Today is a public holiday and the statutory period will not work because the offices are closed, so it will only work from the time of arrest until it resumes on Tuesday,” Santiago said.
However, Ong’s legal counsel, Ferdinand Topacio, accused the NBI of not following procedures to arrest his client.
“I asked him (Santiago) what the basis for the arrest was. He said the NBI would charge her with a crime but if it was just a complaint, they should go through the normal process of filing a complaint affidavit with a preliminary investigation,” Topacio said.
He argued that the NBI should not have detained Ong without any case and stressed that he should have been handed over to the House of Representatives if the House had issued a warrant for his arrest.
Topacio said the NBI’s actions were “ordered from above” and clearly “lawless.”
“There is no reason for the NBI to detain her. They can charge her with any crime but why detain her when there is no case? This is a directive from above, it is clear and lawless,” Topacio said.
Santiago, however, explained the agency’s actions, saying the NBI was acting on a valid warrant.
“Once an arrest warrant is issued, whether it’s the court, the Senate or the Congress, it goes to all law enforcement agencies, and we are one of them. Once we arrest the person who is being sought in the warrant, we process and return the warrant,” Santiago said. He acknowledged that the NBI could not extradite Ong because it was a holiday. — Cecile Suerte Felipe
