MANILA, Philippines -- A state prosecutor has asked a Quezon City court to immediately issue an arrest warrant for professional basketball coach Kenneth Duremdes who has been implicated in an illegal recruitment and estafa (fraud) case.

In a three-page urgent motion, state prosecutor Ramon Chito Mendoza asked the court to order the arrest of Duremdes and his co-respondents Voicel Gutierrez, Alfredo Briones and Corazon Panganiban.

The prosecutor pointed out that it has been more than a month since the criminal information against the respondents were filed in court, and yet no arrest warrant has been issued against them.

The respondents, reportedly officials of the Vitamin and Cebu Artists International, were earlier charged with illegal recruitment and estafa for allegedly making false promisaes of overseas jobs to four victims.

Duremdes is the head interim coach of the Coca-Cola Tigers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Earlier, Duremdes asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to dismiss the charges against him, pointing out that he was unable to participate in the preliminary investigation of the case.

Mendoza added that the DoJ had junked Duremdes?s appeal, thus the issuance of an arrest warrant was in order.