NBI getting tired of waiting game with ex-governor

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents waiting for former Quezon province governor, Eduardo Rodriguez, to surrender were disappointed for the third time yesterday.

Rodriguez and his wife Imelda face extradition due to charges of insurance fraud filed in the United States.

Instead of surrendering as he promised, Rodriguez filed a motion for voluntary extradition, the restoration of their bail bond, and cancellation of the warrant of arrest against him and his wife.

In the manifestation Rodriguez filed before Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 17 Judge Eduardo Peralta, he promised to leave for the US on June 12. He also asked that Peralta conduct a hearing on the motion on May 27.

NBI-International Police division chief Ricardo Diaz, however, said Rodriguez’s motion will not stop NBI agents from arresting him and his wife.

"We have to do what is proper, that is to serve the warrant of arrest," Diaz said. He explained that merely filing a motion to have a warrant of arrest cancelled will not prevent the NBI from serving the order.

Diaz admitted that his men have yet to establish the couple’s whereabouts.

He also said that the Rodriguez couple is apparently deceiving the NBI, several times promising to surrender only to seek court intervention after failing to give themselves up.

"There’s an element of deceit. They’ve been promising to surrender, while at the same time they’ve been doing something else, like court manifestations," Diaz said.

Rodriguez’s lawyers promised to turn over the couple to the NBI on May 10 but failed to show up, claiming Imelda was ill. The two did not surrender even when the NBI gave them another chance.

The NBI has launched a massive manhunt for the Rodriguezes, who promised to yield for the third time yesterday.

In the motion filed by the Rodriguezes’ lawyer Efren Dizon, the couple criticized the government, particularly the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the "injustice" being done to them.

"The DOJ and DFA have become tools of injustice and servants of foreign interests, to state the very least," the motion said. "The DOH should not be the one to determine the extradition. (The) DOJ acted as prosecutor, counsel and representative of the US rolled into one."

The Rodriguez couple said there was no sufficient evidence to convict them in the US since material allegations are mere hearsay and "uncorroborated (and) highly questionable, if not fabricated."

They were charged with insurance fraud after Rodriguez declared that his wife Imelda and her mother, Gloria Gener, died in a vehicular accident in Antipolo. After the "tragedy," Rodriguez allegedly collected $150,000 in death benefits.

The Rodriguezes also asked that the country’s justice system be reexamined, particularly on its non-allowance of bail for extradites. The Supreme Court did not grant them the privilege of posting bail during the proceedings of the extradition case.