Torre assures PNP will catch high-profile fugitives
Philippine National Police chief, Gen. Nicolas Torre III
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Nicolas Torre III maintained that the agency will catch former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag, former Lt. Col. Rafael Dumlao III and former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
“At the end of the day, we’ll find them and bring them to wherever they should be brought,” Torre said in an interview over dzMM on Wednesday night when asked about high-profile fugitives like Bantag, Dumlao and Roque.
“We really are using intelligence here and, if there’s resistance, we’re really going to use force so that they can’t fight it,” he added.
READ: Bantag just somewhere in PH, says PNP
As for Bantag’s case, Torre said the PNP’s latest information was that the former BuCor chief had not yet left the country, adding that the police “has leads” as to his whereabouts and was “allocating resources” to catch him.
Bantag faces murder charges in connection with the killing of radio broadcaster Percival Mabasa in October 2022.
Meanwhile, Dumlao is accused of masterminding the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo inside Camp Crame in 2016.
Executive Secretary and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Chairperson Lucas Bersamin ordered an intensified manhunt for Dumlao, offering a P1-million reward for information that will lead to his arrest.
Further, Roque is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by an Angeles City court last May for human trafficking charges in connection with Lucky South 99, a Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in Porac, Pampanga raided in June 2024.
Torre, then the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, deployed tracker teams to pursue Roque’s 50 co-accused and requested the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a red notice against the former presidential spokesperson.
Roque is in the Netherlands, seeking asylum and claiming political persecution./mr
