NBI told to send team to Interpol

A CONGRESSMAN on Sunday urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to send a Philippine delegation to meet with International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and follow up on its red notice request for a resigned lawmaker tagged in a multibillion-peso graft scandal.

Navotas Rep. Tobias Reynald M. Tiangco said requests for a global alert for law enforcement to arrest individuals based on a warrant of arrest issued by a country typically take weeks. The NBI had asked for a red notice on former Party-list Rep. Elizaldy M. Co in November, he said.

“It usually takes only three to four weeks to get a response from Interpol,” he said in a statement. “Perhaps it’s time for the NBI to send a high-level team to Interpol headquarters to find out why, until now, we still haven’t received a reply to our request.”

Ruy Alberto S. Rondain, Mr. Co’s legal counsel, did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

The resigned lawmaker, who previously chaired the House Appropriations Committee, simultaneously owned a construction firm that has bagged several infrastructure projects under the Marcos administration. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio