MANILA, Philippines--The Interpol is seeing red.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson may be arrested on sight in any of the 188 member-countries of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) once he is included in the ?red notice? list, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Ricardo Diaz, spokesperson of the NBI and chief of its Counter-Terrorism Division, said the bureau would file on Monday a letter of request to the Interpol to include Lacson in the ?red notice? list.

?We?re doing our best to track him down. But based on experience, we will easily get feedback once the subject is on the Interpol red notice list. It will be quick, unless he is stationary in one place,? Diaz said.

The ?red notice,? one of seven color-coded lists that the Interpol issues to share information with its members and allow an arrest warrant to be circulated worldwide, requests the provisional arrest of wanted persons, with a view to extradition.

?[It will depend] on the laws of the country where he is spotted ... but in most of the member-countries of the Interpol, he may be arrested on sight,? Claro de Castro Jr., chief of the NBI Interpol Division, said of Lacson.

If there is no extradition treaty with the country where Lacson is staying, the Philippines may request that he be brought or sent back through diplomatic channels, De Castro said, adding:

?Other countries may only alert us about sightings of the subject; others may immediately deport him to the Philippines.?

Diaz said the NBI was coordinating closely with the foreign intelligence community to track Lacson down.

?Senator Lacson surely knows how the cooperation among the Interpol member-countries works. He headed Interpol Manila when he was the chief of the Philippine National Police,? Diaz pointed out.

Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 issued on Friday a warrant for the opposition senator?s arrest in connection with the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador ?Bubby? Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

?Harder to blend abroad?

Lacson has admitted leaving the country to evade arrest but said it did not mean he was guilty.

Lawmen on saturday fanned out to Lacson?s known addresses to serve the warrant. On Friday, they took a copy of the warrant to the Senate where a janitor and the officer of the day received it.

Senior Supt. Benito Estipona, operations chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said Lacson might have sneaked back into the country to evade the Interpol.

Said Estipona: ?It would be much harder for [Lacson] to blend in other countries.

?Although we have no records of his arrival, we are not discounting the possibility that he has returned.

?Using backdoor entries or other [means] to enter the country is not impossible. Everything is possible.?

House to house

Diaz said NBI agents went to the senator?s house in Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City where a housemaid received the arrest warrant.

?Only two househelp were there when we arrived. They claimed they did not know where the family had gone. But we saw his [Lacson?s] vehicles there,? Diaz said.

He said the NBI proceeded to another known address of Lacson in BF Homes in Parañaque City, but found the house abandoned.

The agents also went to the house of Lacson?s son Ronald, which is about 150 meters from the senator?s house.

?But we found only one househelp there who said she didn?t know where her masters were,? Diaz said, adding that the agents no longer left a copy of the warrant.

Diaz had earlier said Lacson was not in Australia?where he was reportedly staying?or the United States

He said the NBI was not setting a deadline on Lacson?s arrest.

3 tracker teams

Estipona said Lacson?s skills as a former police officer could help him elude authorities.

?In a way, his being a policeman would help him. He could have maintained contacts here and in other countries. But it would be better for him to just surrender to us,? Estipona said.

He said the CIDG had deployed three ?tracker teams? to arrest Lacson and sent copies of the senator?s arrest warrant to all CIDG offices.

?We have taken precautionary measures in the event that the senator has come back. We are leaving no stone unturned to locate him,? Estipona said.

He said CIDG agents also visited Lacson?s ancestral home in Imus, Cavite, to no avail.

Echoing Diaz?s remarks on Friday, Estipona said that while the CIDG operatives were aware that Lacson was in hiding, they still had to try to serve the warrant at the senator?s known addresses as a matter of procedure.

?As a law enforcement agency, we are just doing the job that the court asked us to do,? he told the Inquirer.

Dec. 27 sighting

According to immigration records, Lacson flew to Hong Kong on Jan. 5.

But Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada claimed to have seen him in Hong Kong on Dec. 27.

The eldest son of ousted President Joseph Estrada said he saw Lacson strolling with wife Alice at the ground level of the famous Ocean Terminal and shopping center in Tsim Sha Tsui.

He said he and his wife Precy were likewise strolling on the second level.

Despite the bad blood between them, Estrada said he did not hesitate to call Lacson?s attention: ?Ping! Ping!? he shouted, using the other man?s nickname.

He said Lacson appeared startled but yelled back: ?Who?s with you??

He said the Lacsons waved and then disappeared in the crowd of holiday shoppers.

?I am saddened by what he?s going through right now,? Estrada told the Inquirer in a phone interview. ?I can?t blame him if he doesn?t want to come home.?

According to Estrada, it appears that Lacson returned to the country after their chance encounter.

Once close

Lacson and the Estrada father and son were once close friends but have since become bitter enemies.

On Sept. 14, 2009, Lacson accused them of involvement in the illegal numbers game ?jueteng? and other organized crimes during the Estrada presidency.

He claimed in a privilege speech that the former President had also engaged in ?arm-twisting? and ?smuggling,? prompting the Estradas to call him a ?liar.?

Lacson also implicated the ousted President in the Dacer-Corbito murders. At the time, Lacson had yet to be charged with the double-murder case.

It was only on Jan. 7 that the justice department charged Lacson with two counts of murder.