Family of missing PR man fears the worst

After a week without any positive news, the family of missing public relations practitioner Salvador "Bubby" Dacer expressed fears that he is already dead.

"We would like to believe he is still alive, but until now we have no confirmation," said Edwin Fargas, spokesman for the Dacer family.

Fargas said he believes Dacer’s abductors will never allow their captive to escape and possibly reveal their identities.

"I think his abductors will ensure that their captive can no longer talk, if ever he is recovered," he said.

Fargas said he spent the entire morning yesterday calling up the National Bureau of Investigation for updates on the case.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) challenged yesterday President Estrada’s nemesis, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, to prove his accusation that the PNP and its elite unit were probably behind the disappearance of Dacer.

"Suspicion is different from hard facts. We should distinguish baseless accusations from hard evidence," PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome told a press conference.

Singson said last Wednesday that Dacer’s abduction by armed men at a busy Manila intersection in broad daylight was similar to his own late night brush with policemen in early October, which he believed was an assassination attempt.

Only the PNP and its Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), headed by PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, an Estrada protegé, have the "capability" of snatching Dacer like that, Singson said.

Two witnesses said Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, were snatched by several men on board three vehicles that intercepted Dacer’s white Toyota Revo van.

Corbito was dragged to one of the vehicles while four other men commandeered Dacer’s van with the publicist inside, said the witnesses, both street vendors. They were several meters away from the scene, they said.

One of the suspects carried an automatic rifle and wore a white jacket over what appeared to be a police uniform, the unidentified witnesses said, who are now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.

"It’s too early to tell that the police is involved in the abduction as reports say," Bartolome said, adding that anybody can wear a police uniform and impersonate a police officer.

"Accordingly, the suspect was wearing a shirt with a police logo and faded jeans. These do not constitute a police uniform. Criminals disguise themselves to avoid easy identification," Bartolome said.

"We have no intention whatsoever to be caught in a useless, counterproductive debate with doomsayers and black propagandists. We will continue to carry out our sworn duties as mandated by the Constitution without fear or favor," Lacson said in a statement.

Lacson is on a week-long official trip to the United States. The PAOCTF is one of several law enforcement agencies tracking down Dacer.

A few days after Dacer’s disappearance, his van was found last Monday in a ravine in Maragondon town, Cavite, with no sign of Dacer or his driver.

Singson said Dacer’s abduction followed a pattern similar to his brush with policemen.

On the night of Oct. 4, several policemen aboard three vehicles stopped Singson’s vehicle in Metro Manila, claiming he went through a red light. He said he would be dead by now if he didn’t have bodyguards with him that night.

Four days later, Singson accused Mr. Estrada in a press conference of accepting bribes from jueteng lords, saying he decided to go public before someone silenced him for good.

Singson believes that Dacer was abducted because the latter knew too much about Mr. Estrada.