2 suspects: Dacer strangled, burned

Missing publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver were strangled to death, then doused with petrol and set on fire while policemen watched, according to two farmers who have admitted participation in the crime.

Suspects Jimmy Lopez, 41, and Alex Diloy, 37, tagged some members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) as behind the four-month-old kidnap-slaying case. The two, however, could not identify the mastermind.

The two suspects were presented to the media yesterday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) following the recovery in Indang, Cavite of remains believed to be those of Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

The victims were snatched by armed men on Nov. 24 at the intersection of the South Superhighway and Zobel Roxas street in Manila.

Lopez and Diloy, who were arrested on Wednesday in Barangay Bona Lejos I in Indang town, recalled that the victims were turned over to them by the PAOCTF agents at about 4 p.m. on Nov. 24.

The suspects told reporters that Dacer, 63, and Corbito were strangled to death with a piece of electric cord.

Diloy said he was ordered to gather firewood and discarded auto tires to build a pyre used to burn the corpses after being doused with petrol.

An NBI statement quoted Lopez and Diloy as saying that the PAOCTF agents brought the victims to a garage owned by William Lopez, brother of Jimmy, where they were trussed up and blindfolded.

"Upon arrival, masking tapes were plastered on their eyes and mouths, and their hands tied at the back," the statement said, indicating that Lopez did not know who the victims were.

Lopez said the victims and their captors were aboard two vans, a white Toyota Hi-Ace and a Toyota Lite Ace.

Later that day, the victims were brought to a creek where they were strangled. Diloy said William Lopez, Diego de Pedro and SPO3 Mauro Torres did the killings.

Lopez and Diloy identified four members of the PAOCTF as being among more than 10 people who participated in the kidnap-murder.

The two said they did not know the motive for the murders, saying they merely followed orders from the policemen.

They said Vîña relayed the instructions to them through a cellular phone.

NBI forensic experts have recovered bones and teeth believed to be those of the victims.

NBI chief forensic chemist Idabel Pagulayan said it may take two weeks to extract DNA from the bones which would be used to match with DNA samples taken from relatives of the victims.

Lopez and Diloy are currently detained at the NBI headquarters as appropriate criminal charges are being prepared against them.

The case is handled by a three-member panel headed by State Prosecutor Ruben Carreta, with Juan Navera and Geronimo Sy as members.

The Lopez brothers were reportedly assets of the PAOCTF, with one of them given the rank of SPO2 and issued a mission order by Senior Superintendent Teofilo Viña, head of the PAOCTF-Visayas, directing him, along with SPO3 Jose Escalante and SPO1 Crisostomo Purificacion, to proceed to Regions 4, 6, 7 and 8 to "carry out confidential instructions of the PAOCTF chief."

Diloy showed to reporters a pair of Lumberjack leather shoes which De Pedro allegedly tossed to him after setting the pyre on fire.

"Puti ito pero kinulayan ko lang ng brown (This was white, but I dyed it brown)," he said.

It was unclear if the shoes belonged to Dacer or Corbito.

Dacer was also called "Mr. White" by colleagues for his propensity to wear all-white outfits.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said Lopez and Diloy testified that Soberano, Torres, Escalante and Purificacion were "at the scene of the crime."

It was not immediately known, however, if they have been ordered arrested or limited to headquarters pending their arrest.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Diloy and Lopez may be put under the government’s witness protection program, indicating they may turn state witnesses in the prosecution of the case.

The two men also said they personally know Soberano and Viña because they all came from the same community, along with Lacson who also hails from Cavite.

DOJ to dig deeper into Dacer case

Despite this significant breakthrough, Perez said they still do not consider it a closed case. "All angles in this case will be looked into."

Press Secretary Noel Cabrera said President Arroyo has also directed the NBI to exhaust all means to arrest and prosecute the mastermind of the Dacer kidnap-slay.

Perez said they would dig deeper into the case to find out the motive and the brains behind the grisly killings.

"This is just a breakthrough because we still don’t know why this was done and ordered them to do this," Perez said.

Earlier, street vendor Willy Cabuguin identified Soberano as one of eight armed men who abducted Dacer and Corbito.

Cabuguin testified that Soberano even grabbed Corbito by the collar and shoved him into a vehicle which sped off toward the Buendia flyover.

Meanwhile, the NBI is set to file kidnapping and murder charges against Viña, who has reportedly applied for early retirement and ignored summons by the agency.

The NBI also said Cavite Gov. Bong Revilla has provided information that Diloy’s wife is related to former PNP chief Panfilo Lacson, then concurrent chief of the PAOCTF.

An aide of former President Fidel Ramos said prior to the kidnapping, Dacer had feared for his safety after then President Joseph Estrada blamed him for the bad publicity generated by a corruption scandal which helped trigger impeachment proceedings.

Estrada was eventually ousted on Jan. 20 by a military-backed popular uprising called people power II.

Lacson belittled the developments, saying the NBI has been promising major breakthroughs in the case.

"If it’s really a breakthrough, that’s good so that we can tell what really is the score on the Bubby Dacer case," he said.

Lacson denied any involvement in the Dacer case.

For his part, PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said they knew all along that the PAOCTF was involved in the case. "Ever since, we knew of their involvement and (we) have been coordinating closely with the NBI about our own findings," he said.

Mendoza said with two potential vital witnesses available, they could already claim having made a "major breakthrough" in their investigation.

He added that Soberano, Escalante, Purificacion and Torres would be immediately turned over to the NBI once a case has been filed against them.

To prevent the suspects’ escape, Mendoza said appropriate measures have been instituted to ensure that they remain under the control of the PNP.

Among the measures is the cancellation of the suspects’ leave of absence and their immediate return to their respective mother units.

"If they escape, there are many ways to hunt (them down) and get them," Mendoza said.

Camp Crame sources said with the identification of the four PAOCTF agents, more members of the unit who took part in the "special operations" allegedly supervised by Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino will also be ferreted out.

"It is just an initial finding. We expect more PAOCTF names to surface, that will lead to the identification of the mastermind," Mendoza said.

The same sources said earlier that the operation against Dacer was "compartmentalized," with agents involved given the impression it was a simple arrest of a suspect.

The sources said only Viña knew the real objective of their mission. — With reports from Jaime Laude, Marichu Villanueva