NBI pushes for return of main suspect in Nida murder

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is pressuring lawyers of screen icon Nida Blanca's husband to honour their commitment and compel their client to return from the U.S.

Reynaldo Wycoco, the NBI Director, said they would ask Rod Strunk's lawyers in the Philippines to make him return to the country to attend preliminary investigations.

The authorities require the 62-year-old American, husband and principal suspect in the murder of Nida Blanca, in the case conducted by prosecutors following the NBI's filing of charges against the former actor last Wednesday.

"We'll write them if they can produce Strunk at this point," Wycoco said, while pointing out that the suspect is considered a fugitive, yet an arrest warrant has not been issued against him.

A charge was lodged against Strunk before the Department of Justice in Manila on Wednesday in connection with the November 7, 2001 murder of his wife, Nida Blanca. Seven others have been charged in the killing, including Philip Medel, who earlier issued a testimony claiming he was the one who stabbed the actress on the order of her husband.

Medel later on recanted his testimony after a businessman he identified as a key accessory in the crime mysteriously disappeared. Strunk left for the United States last January 21 to attend to his ailing mother who has died.

The justice department allowed the former actor to leave the country after his lawyers committed to compel him to return once it is required by the authorities in the Philippines.

The NBI believes that Strunk has already gone into hiding somewhere in California and has asked its U.S. counterpart, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor the actor's movements. Wycoco said at the present juncture of the case, they are still unable to file for Strunk's extradition since the case is yet to be taken up by the court.

"If the findings of the Chief State Prosecutor show there is probable cause (to file a case), it will recommend the filing of the case in court and an arrest warrant would be issued. Only then can the extradition process commence," Wycoco said.

Meanwhile, Strunk's lawyer Alma Mallonga said the NBI is violating their client's rights with its pronouncements that he ordered the killing of his wife. Even if an extradition request is filed against Strunk, the NBI said it will take months before he can be brought to appear in a Filipino court.

"Given that an extradition request had been filed and the suspect arrested by the U.S. authorities, it would take six months at least to have him brought back to the Philippines," an NBI official said.

He cited the case of Charlie 'Atong' Ang, an associate of deposed president Joseph Estrada.