Interpol Red Notice issued vs Bantag, Atong Ang; Remulla hits PNP execs for arrest failure
By Chito Chavez
Top officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been castigated for their failure to arrest three top wanted persons in the country, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor ‘Jonvic” Remulla admitted on Monday, May 11.
He is referring to former prisons chief Gerald Bantag, former police official Rafael Dumlao III and gambling tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang.
“Sa command conference namin, e medyo binoldyak ko na yung mga, sa, yung mga pulis natin. Sabi ko dalawang daan libo kayo, alangan naman di nyo kayang hanapin tatatlong tao lang diba. (In our command conference I castigated our police officers. I told them there are 200,000 of you, it is unthinkable that you cannot find only three people),’’ Remulla said.
Bantag is wanted for the killing of broadcast journalist Percy Lapid while Dumlao was also ordered rearrested over the case of South Korean executive Jee Ick Joo who was kidnapped and later killed right inside Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Ang, on the other hand, faces serious cases of kidnapping with homicide and kidnapping with serious illegal detention in connection with the missing sabungeros.
Remulla also expressed optimism that the issuance of the Interpol Red Notice will help in arresting the three.
“For the information of everybody, there is already a Red Notice against Bantag, Atong Ang and Dumlao,” said Remulla.
As to Zaldy Co, he said the application for Red Notice was just applied last year and Remulla expressed hope that it would be granted.
And after admonishing the PNP for failure to arrest three wanted persons, Remulla said he expected a more intensified operation to get all of them.