Dante Tan missing

Where is Dante Tan?

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday sought the assistance of the police and military to determine the whereabouts of the Filipino-Chinese businessman, who has gone missing after two suspects in the abduction of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer were taken into custody last week.

NBI agents said they have begun coordinating with intelligence units of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to facilitate the gathering of any information related to Tan, president of Best World Resources. The gaming firm, which was involved in the country’s biggest stock trading scandal, may be able to shed light on the abduction and slaying of Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Sources from the intelligence community said the police have already checked Tan’s known addresses, but have come up empty.

"There is a possibility that he (Tan) has gone into hiding to separate himself from the controversy of the Dacer case," a ranking police official said.

The source said Tan may also be hiding out of fear, but doubted if the businessman had been abducted.

"If he was abducted, his family would have immediately contacted authorities," the police official said.

The STAR tried but failed to contact lawyer Agnes Maranan, who had acted as Tan’s counsel in the BW case. An initial call through the lawyer’s mobile was initially received by a relative and all succeeding attempts failed as the unit was turned off.

Tan was a former client of Dacer in the BW scandal, which saw the businessman and his associates charged in court for conspiring to cause artificial stock sales in an effort to boost the price of BW shares by more than 5,000 percent from March to October 1999.

Tan explained that he decided to terminate Dacer’s services because he could not commit to the hectic schedule arranged by the publicist. Dacer had apparently asked Tan to attend numerous forums and issue statements on a regular basis to defend himself from the accusations of stock manipulation and insider trading.

The family of Dacer claimed the publicist was carrying with him two black attaché cases when he and his driver were abducted last Nov. 24. The attaché cases are believed to have contained documents vital to the BW case.

Tan had denied giving important documents to Dacer.

But during the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay said he suspected Dacer was abducted because he was about to divulge vital information related to the BW insider trading case.

Tan and several Estrada cronies are also included in the plunder suit against the ousted leader. His name was culled from documents in a sealed envelope submitted by Equitable-PCI Bank to the Senate tribunal that conducted the failed impeachment trial of Estrada.