But Lacson, now a Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) senatorial candidate, said in an official statement yesterday the Kuratong Baleleng case is being revived as part of a "sustained demolition campaign" to derail his candidacy.
"Nothing is new," he said. "All these issues against me have been coming out since the campaign started. They have not run out of issues against me."
Lawyer Arno Sanidad, spokesman for the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), told reporters the two new witnesses, Ysmael Yu and police Senior Inspector Abelardo Ramos, were part of the police unit that took part in the alleged rubout.
However, Lacson said Yu is a "recycled witness" who was already presented as a witness against him in 1999 by former PNP chief retired Deputy Director General Roberto Lastimoso, who tried but failed to reopen the Kuratong Baleleng case.
"Yu was rebuffed by four of his people," he said. "So the case did not push through. Now they are trying to revive it again. This is a rehash."
Sanidad said FLAG hopes to reopen the case in which Lacson and 26 other police officers were charged with multiple murder. The case was dismissed four years later after key witnesses retracted their statements.
Sanidad said Ramos stated in an affidavit that he shot the suspected bank robbers on "direct orders" from Senior Superintendent Francisco Zubia, who was then chief of the Traffic Management Command.
"He (Ramos) received direct orders from Zubia in the presence of Lacson and (Chief Superintendent Romeo) Acop," he said. "The nature of the admission of the witnesses could very well stand in court against Lacson, et al."
On the other hand, Yu swore in an affidavit that he was the leader of the police team that raided the house of Kuratong Baleleng leader Wilson Soronda at Superville Subdivision in Parañaque on the night of May 17, 1995, he added.
Sanidad said he and fellow FLAG lawyers Jose Manuel Diokno and Theodore Te have urged President Arroyo to show political will and speed up the resolution of the case.
"The KB rubout cases are a great opportunity to show the people that no one is above the law; that our enforcers should never take the law into their hands, and that every person deserves his day in court," he said.
Sanidad said they were able to convince Yu and Ramos to turn against Lacson and his men following the ouster of President Joseph Estrada and the resignation of Lacson as Philippine National Police chief.
"The fact that the principal accused are no longer in power prompted them to show up and finally testify in court," he said.
On another front, People Power Coalition senatorial candidate Wigberto "Bobby" Tañada called on the Ombudsman yesterday to investigate the charges of graft and corruption against Lacson.
"Lacson should answer these charges," he said. "It appears that we cannot any more ask the Senate to conduct an inquiry on him because they are busy campaigning," he said. "So I am asking the Ombudsman to investigate Lacson based on these new charges."
Tañada also accused Lacson of failing to declare in his statement of assets and liabilities a house he owns at 1011 Laguna Seca Loop in Chula Vista, San Diego in California.
"Government officials, particularly those occupying high posts should be transparent enough to declare their properties to at least avoid suspicions that they acquired them through illegal means."
But Lacson said Tañada’s revelations were not new and that the documents he presented were the same ones Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, whom he had jailed for kidnapping, had shown to media two weeks ago.
Lacson said he bought a property in Chula Vista in 1996 but denied that he had not declared it in his statement of assets and liabilities from 1996 up to the present.
"The connection and the working relationship between Berroya and the PPC is now clearer than ever," he said. "The documents that are now being used by the PPC came from Berroya."
Lacson said he sold the Chula Vista property in 1997 through a US-based brother after he and his wife decided to remain in the Philippines.
"When we bought the property, my wife and I were thinking of moving our family to the US because of the many death threats I have been receiving due to my active role in arresting criminals through the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission," he said.
Lacson also accused National Bureau of Investigation Director Reynaldo Wycoco, who had linked him to the kidnapping of public relations man Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, of getting involved in the "demolition job" against him.
Lacson likened Wycoco to Goebbels – Hitler’s propaganda minister – for often repeating in media insinuations that he had something to do with Dacer’s disappearance.
"Goebbels said that falsehood becomes the truth when repeated a thousand times," he said. "In the same manner, Wycoco keeps on harping in the media that I may have something to do with Dacer’s disappearance but in truth and in fact, he knows that I have nothing to do with it."
Lacson said the Arroyo administration has found a natural "Goebbels" in Wycoco, who was the spokesman for former Armed Forces chief Gen. Fabian Ver for many years. – With reports from Efren Danao, Jess Diaz