MANILA, Philippines—Former police senior superintendent Glenn Dumlao has filed a petition for habeas corpus and injunction before a US court in a bid to prevent his extradition, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Thursday.

Gonzalez had earlier said Dumlao, one of those charged for the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000, was expected to return to the country any time between March 19 to 21.

Last Sunday, lawyers Claro de Castro, chief of the Interpol division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Ric Diaz, head of the anti-terrorism division, flew to the US earlier this week to fetch Dumlao.

Dumlao was supposed to be a state witness in the case filed in connection with the Dacer-Corbito murders but went into hiding in 2003, prompting the court to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Gonzalez had said Dumlao would corroborate the testimony of another former police officer implicated in the Dacer-Corbito murders, Cesar Mancao, who has executed an affidavit in which he supposedly names the mastermind.

However, recently, the justice secretary said he was unsure if Dumlao could still become a state witness, saying the former police officer has to answer questions about the three affidavits he executed.