MANILA. Charlie "Atong" Ang, the former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) consultant and friend of deposed president Joseph Estrada, will be arriving in the country early Friday morning after being extradited from the United States, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez confirmed yesterday.

Ang will board a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) flight to Manila Thursday night escorted by Reynaldo Esmeralda, deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Operations Service and Claro de Castro Jr., the bureau's Interpol chief, and will be taken straight to the NBI jail on arrival.

He is a co-accused in the plunder case for which Estrada is being tried by the Sandiganbayan.

Ang is accused of funneling P130 million in alleged tobacco tax kickbacks and illegal gambling payoffs to Estrada, who is also being tried for plunder, a capital offense, before the Sandiganbayan.

Gonzalez and NBI Director Nestor Mantaring will meet Ang at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The justice chief had Ang fetched after the US State Department informed the Philippine government on October 6 to return him to the country no later than November 11.

"Attorney Esmeralda told me that all is set for Ang's return," Gonzalez told reporters.
NBI spokesperson and Criminal Intelligence Division chief Ricardo Diaz said Ang will not receive any special privileges while in detention.

"We will not give him what he wants but we will give him what he needs - security and a roof over his head," said Diaz.

But Diaz did not discount the possibility that the Department of Justice would eventually place Ang in separate quarters.

Ang, a gambling buddy of Estrada, fled the country on January 20, 2001 following Estrada's ouster. He was arrested at the Paris Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on the basis of a Philippine government request for his extradition.

After a year in US custody in a North Las Vegas jail, he was freed on $300,000 bail and placed under house arrest. He was made to wear an electronic monitoring device while US marshals guarded his home.

Last September, a US District Court judge ruled Ang extraditable to the Philippines.
Diaz said there will be heavy security at the NAIA for Ang's arrival because of Ang's claim that his life is in danger.

According to the standard procedure in such cases, Ang will be handcuffed upon arrival and escorted to the NBI jail, where he will be temporarily detained pending the issuance of a commitment order by the Sandiganbayan.

"We expect the commitment order within a week given the sensitivity of the case," Diaz said.