MANILA, Philippines?Investigators are checking out leads that fugitive Sen. Panfilo ?Ping? Lacson may be in China or Taiwan.

Ricardo Diaz, deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, said agents were following leads the senator was in Taiwan, where he is said to have connections in high places, but ?initial verification yielded negative results.?

?We are looking at mainland China, not Taiwan. I cannot give you details but we are verifying our leads that the senator may be in mainland China,? Diaz said.

The senator, who is wanted in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, flew to Hong Kong in early January then disappeared.

The Philippines has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong. But if Lacson has slipped to the mainland, ?there?s a need to enter into a separate extradition treaty with the Chinese government,? Diaz said.

One source, a senior official at the NBI, however, indicated that Taiwan was still very much on investigators? minds.

?The most logical place for Lacson to go is to Taiwan because of ties he developed with officers of the Ministry of Justice and Investigation Bureau of Taiwan when he was head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force or PAOCTF,? said the source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the case.

?Individual members of law enforcement agencies there may be helping him, not the agencies per se,? the source explained.

?It?s Taiwan, Ping is in Taiwan,? he said.

At any rate, NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said Monday he had opened communication lines with Lacson?s lawyers in a bid to convince the fugitive senator to give himself up.

He also disclosed that he was coordinating with the Philippine National Police to put a price on Lacson?s head.

?If he (Lacson) is indeed innocent of the charges, he can clear his name by submitting to the authorities and defending himself,? Mantaring said.

?We can send agents to the lawyers of Lacson. It will be better if they convince him to surrender,? Mantaring added.

Until then, the search for Lacson would continue.

Mantaring revealed that the bureau had made representations with the Hong Kong immigration office to provide them information on the ports of entry and exit of Lacson. ?That would be vital to tracking down the senator,? he said.

Mantaring also said the agency was in the process of compiling documents to support their request to include Lacson in the Interpol?s ?red notice.?

Inclusion in the red notice means the intelligence network of Interpol?s 186 member-countries could be mobilized to track down the senator.

Seeking asylum

Meanwhile, a political adviser and spokesperson of the embattled lawmaker said Lacson may attempt to seek asylum in another country by invoking a provision in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.

?Under the UN Declaration on Human Rights, Lacson can seek asylum if he feels he will not get justice in his own country due to vindictiveness and political persecution ... or if he feels his life is in danger,? Lito Banayo explained.

In an interview, Banayo said he had not recently spoken with Lacson but based on conversations with the senator in December, ?the possibility of seeking asylum in a foreign country was discussed.?

Banayo said he would not be surprised if Lacson explored that option.

Banayo said he last spoke with Lacson on Dec. 19 and received a text message from him on Dec. 29.

The message, according to Banayo, had nothing to do with the Dacer-Corbito case for which a warrant for Lacson?s arrest was issued last week.

?His message was about his plan to call on his leaders and supporters nationwide to publicly announce his support for the candidacy for president and vice president of Sen. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III and Sen. Mar Roxas.

?Yun ang balak niya talaga, pero madali namang intindihin kung bakit walang tiwala si Senator Lacson sa justice system under this regime (That was his plan, although it is easy to understand why the senator does not trust the justice system under this regime).

?Let us first clarify that Lacson is not a fugitive. What he did was not the act of a fugitive but a strategic move, knowing how vindictive this present administration is,? Banayo said.

Apparently, Lacson is not totally incommunicado. He has reportedly answered some text messages sent to his cellular phone by close friends.