Dacer family urges government to arrest murder brains

The family of slain publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer urged the government yesterday to find the mastermind of his brutal murder and that of his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

The Dacer family made the appeal during necrolo-gical services for Dacer and Corbito at the Santuario de San Antonio at Forbes Park in Makati City.

"Our family and the fa-mily of our beloved driver Manuel would continue to seek justice for their deaths. No matter what obstacles stand in our way for the re-solution of this case, as he (Dacer) said all the while, with God, all things are possible," said Dacer’s eldest daughter Emily.

The Dacer and Corbito families called on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to immediately round up all the suspects in the case "before they get killed or disappear."

The families urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "conduct a thorough investigation so that the brains behind this horrible crime can be identified, no matter who they are, and together with the other suspects, properly charged in court."

They also urged the NBI to present the complete facts of the case to the families who had to rely on newspaper reports for updates on the double-murder case.

Eleven suspects in the Nov. 24 kidnap-murder of Dacer and Corbito have already surrendered to authorities and are now detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City but eight other suspects are still at large.

Four of 11 who surrendered were members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), formerly headed by senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson.

Authorities are also looking at the possibility that the double-murder was a P50-million job hatched by a group of ranking government and police officials during the Estrada administration.

But authorities have yet to identify the mastermind of the brutal murders.

During the necrological rites for Dacer and Corbito, former President Fidel Ramos, one of Dacer’s close friends and client, echoed the calls of the family for justice.

"I assure you that many of us who shared his friendship would continue to support and hopefully to help speed up the efforts of the authorities," Ramos said.

The remains of the two men were contained in small boxes and were brought to the Most Holy Rosary Church located at the Sun Valley Subdivision in Parañaque City where the Dacer family resides.

Emily and her sister Sabina wept as a priest sprinkled the boxes with holy water followed by the victims’ families.

Another Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. today before their remains are buried at the Himlayang Pilipino in Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

"It is time to uncover the truth of this condemnable and dastardly crime and for those responsible for Bubby’s untimely death to be brought before the path of justice," Ramos said.

Ramos’ national security adviser Jose Almonte also dismissed the accusations of Estrada administration officials that Dacer had supposedly tried to destabilize the Estrada government.

He maintained that Dacer was also a close friend of Estrada and was not capable of even considering any destabilization move.

Almonte had earlier claimed Dacer was carrying vital documents on a stock market scandal linked to Estrada when he was snatched by armed men on Nov. 24.

The documents still have to be accounted for.

Almonte also confirmed the reported meeting between Estrada and Dacer in Malacañang two nights before the abduction occurred.

Almonte said the former president tried to persuade Dacer to help reverse the adverse publicity generated by the exposé of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson on Estrada’s link to illegal gambling operations.

Almonte also revealed that Dacer wrote him a letter at least one month before his disappearance, confiding that his telephones were bugged and that government agents have been shadowing him.

Almonte said he advised Dacer to take extra precautions.

He said Dacer also hinted that Estrada and Lacson may have a hand if something bad happened to him.