‘Pick Up Blues’ for former police officer Michael Ray Aquino. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will go to the United States this evening to fetch former police officer Michael Ray Aquino, one of those police officials implicated in the death of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito.
NBI Foreign Liaison Division Chief Head Agent Atty. Claro De Castro said that aside from him is another agent who will go to the US upon instructions from Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.
From the US, De Castro said they will coordinate with the Philippine consulate and the US Marshalls to process the extradition of Aquino.
De Castro, however, refused to give a definite date and time of their return for security reasons.
De Lima issued the order after US-DOJ Attache Robert E. Courtney III informed the Philippine DOJ that US Marshalls are already prepared to transport Aquino from New Jersey to California to facilitate his transfer to Philippine authorities.
“It is my understanding that Michael Ray Aquino must be removed from the US, on or before July 3, 2011,” Courtney said.
“Because of the logistics involved, we request that your office advise us regarding the pick-up schedule as soon as possible so we may coordinate with the Marshals,” Courtney added.
The US appellate court earlier affirmed the findings of the New Jersey district court, which found no legal basis to stop Aquino’s extradition.
Aquino, a former police officer at the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, is detained at the Hudson Country jail in New Jersey.