Michael Ray Aquino asks to stay at NBI headquarters

MANILA, Philippines— Former police officer Michael Ray Aquino’s lawyer Simonette Sibal-Pulido asked the Manila City Regional Trial Branch 18 that he be allowed to stay at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) instead of the Manila City Jail.

Aquino’s camp filed a motion for continued detention at the NBI.

Pulido, in a phone interview, said that “Aquino’s stay with any other detention facilities will impair his life and personal safety.”

Aquino, a former official of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), was “responsible for the arrest of members of kidnapping syndicates and other criminals. If he will stay in city jails, that would be very risky,” said Pulido.

Under the rules, an accused should be detained in the nearest detention facility where his case is being heard. In the case of Aquino, the two counts of murder were being tried before the Manila RTC and the nearest detention facility would be the Manila City Jail.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima also recommended Aquino’s continued stay with the NBI.

Aquino returned to the Philippines on June 26 after about 10 years of hiding in the United States.