PNP still clue-less on Dacer’s case

Still looking for clues.

Police investigators were still looking for clues that would link the two severely mutilated bodies found last week in Nueva Vizcaya province to the Nov. 24 disappearance of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver.

A ranking official of the crack Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) told The STAR the probers were still awaiting identification documents from Dacer’s family to check if the fingerprints taken from the two corpses would match those of the missing men.

The police also need Dacer’s vehicle registration certificate to positively identify the Toyota Revo found in a ravine in Cavite.

Meanwhile, investigators were scouring several areas for the missing heads of the two chopped up corpses that were placed in five trash bags and dumped in Barangay Baretbet in Bagabag town, Nueva Vizcaya.

Local residents found the remains last Thursday, nearly a week after Dacer’s disappearance.

Witnesses said the bags were thrown over the San Lorenzo Bridge in Baretbet by several unidentified men riding a Toyota Revo van with license plates MJT 896.

After the strangers left, the residents became curious and reported the matter to the police.

Police said the corpses were cut up into several pieces and stuffed into the trash bags, minus the heads. The feet of one of the victims, who reportedly had fair complexion, were also missing.

"There is only a set of hands (from) where we lifted the fingerprints. Apart from these, we hope the autopsy can reveal more reliable information," said Dr. Pierre Carlo Carpio, medico-legal officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

"We have to establish the physical identification marks of these persons. Apart from these, coordination should be made with the relatives of the victims who were reported missing, including Mr. Dacer," Carpio said.

An eight-member team of forensic experts from the National Bureau of Investigation conducted the autopsy on the corpses.

Also recovered were pieces of evidence including a tattered, bloodstained white shirt, a man’s brief, a pair of Italian-made blue denim pants and a pair of British-made handcuffs bearing the markings "PNP property" and serial number 718404 still attached to the severed hand.

Carpio refused to speculate on the actual cause of death pending results of the autopsy.

Citing the manner the bodies were cut up, Carpio surmised that the killers used a "very sharp" instrument.

He also said the victims’ tormentors were apparently "professional" killers-for-hire.

"They tried to leave no clues except for the handcuffs," police said.

Informed about the recovery of the two bodies, PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, currently on official trip to the United States, directed PNP logistics director Chief Superintendent Jaime de la Cruz to check into the issuance of the handcuffs.

Witnesses interviewed by justice department probers said Dacer’s Revo van was intercepted by armed men, one of whom reportedly tried to conceal his police uniform with a jacket, at the intersection of Zobel Roxas street and South Super Highway near the boundary of Makati and Manila last Nov. 24.

One of the kidnappers hit Dacer’s driver, Manuel Corbito with the butt of an Armalite rifle, then dragged the victim to one of four getaway vehicles.

Four other suspects commandeered Dacer’s van and drove off.

The publicist’s van was later found at the bottom of a ravine in Maragondon town in Cavite with no traces of the two victims.

At the time, Dacer was on his way to the Manila Hotel for a meeting with a friend and client, former President Fidel Ramos, who has been critical of Mr. Estrada.