Capturing a wanted suspect with an Interpol Red Notice is rarely as exciting as shown in movies and TV shows. Sometimes, all it entails is arresting someone while playing a leisurely game of golf. That is what happened to a former member of the Philippine House of Representatives, Arnulfo Teves Jr., who was arrested in Timor-Leste on 21 March 2024.
Mr. Teves is wanted in the Philippines for murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder, with charges for incidents back in 2019 and 2023, including the assassination of the governor of Negros Occidental, Roel Degamo. The assassination was conducted by several gunmen who sprayed a hail of bullets in the Degamo compound, killing the governor and several other people while wounding many others, in a violent bloodbath that seemed more brutal in its efficiency than any Hollywood movie.
An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country.
Member countries apply their own laws when deciding whether to arrest a person. Interpol publishes Red Notices at the request of a member country and must comply with Interpol’s Constitution and Rules. A Red Notice is not an arrest warrant but an international alert for a wanted person.
Timor-Leste does not have a formal extradition treaty with the Philippines. The absence of an extradition treaty does not mean that Mr. Teves is not in danger of being extradited to the Philippines. It just means that both countries will have to conduct ad hoc negotiations to decide on the fate of Mr. Teves.
There is an extreme likelihood that Mr. Teves will eventually be sent back to the Philippines. The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation released a statement that Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta “communicated his earnest desire for the immediate resolution of the case and emphasized the importance of expeditiously removing Teves from Timor-Leste.”
The Philippines’ Department of Justice spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano, said the DoJ is still studying means and methods to get Mr. Teves back in the country, whether via extradition negotiations or deportation, as he is an illegal alien since his passport was canceled, or through the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC).
The UNTOC website states: “Transnational organized crime encompasses virtually all serious profit-motivated criminal actions of an international nature where more than one country is involved. Many activities can be characterized as transnational organized crime, including drug trafficking, smuggling of migrants, human trafficking, money laundering, trafficking in firearms, counterfeit goods, wildlife and cultural property, and even some aspects of cybercrime.”
It is extremely unlikely Mr. Teves will be extradited or deported under the UNTOC unless it can be shown that he had committed one or more of the transnational crimes listed above. The warrants for his arrest were only issued for acts and offenses that occurred in the local Philippine context, not in a transnational context.
Even if the Philippines and Timor-Leste are both State Parties to the UNTOC, a treaty cannot be invoked to extradite someone if their alleged acts are not covered by the acts or offenses listed in the treaty.
It is more likely that Mr. Teves will be deported back to the Philippines. Deportation back to the Philippines is less dramatic than in a movie. However, for the survivors and the victims of the violence and killings that were worse than a horror movie, it is one step closer to finding out the truth about what really happened and obtaining justice for those who lost their lives.
