Neither the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) nor Philippine regulations mandate the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) to execute arrests, contrary to SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta’s claim that the PCTC–not Philippine National Police (PNP)–should have served the arrest warrant on former President Rodrigo Duterte on March 11.
The PCTC, which serves as Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Manila, is not tasked with carrying out arrests but with coordinating “the processing of requests for cooperation and international alerts sent to them by means of Interpol notices, diffusions and messages” at the national level, according to Article 20 of Interpol’s Rules on the Processing of Data.
Interpol’s official website also makes it clear that it “does not carry out investigations or arrests,” noting that national law enforcement agencies are responsible for these.
Marcoleta, a senatorial bet under the Duterte-allied PDP-Laban slate, questioned why PCTC Executive Director Anthony Alcantara did not serve the arrest warrant—if the move was in compliance with Interpol obligations—during an interview on internet personality Reymond delos Reyes’ show “Aplikante ng Bayan” on March 21. He said:
Kung totoo na tayo ay tumugon lamag alang-alang doon sa ating obligasyon sa Interpol, bakit hindi ‘yung representative ng Interpol na counterpart niya dito sa ating bansa, ‘yung head ng PCTC, ang nagsasalita (If it’s true that we only responded out of our obligation to Interpol, then why isn’t Interpol’s representative in our country, the head of the PCTC, the one speaking)?
Marcoleta’s interview with delos Reyes has garnered over 820,000 views, 22,000 likes and 3,700 comments on YouTube. It has received more than 40,000 likes, 2,600 comments and 17,000 shares on Facebook.
Read the full story on FactRakers.org.