Dacer slay: Ex-PAOCTF cop suspect killed, another nabbed

One of the suspects in the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000 was shot to death last night in Tanza, Cavite.

Col. Teofilo Viña, currently absent without leave (AWOL) from the service, died at 8:25 last night, about an hour after at least four assailants interrupted his drinking session with a certain Councilor Satsatin in Barangay Santol.

Viña was one of the principal suspects in the celebrated Dacer-Corbito double murder case in which he was allegedly the overall "operator."

Viña, former chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) in Central Visayas, was a trusted man of Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s protégé Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, who is also AWOL and believed to be out of the country.

The gunman was identified as Medar Cruz, 28, who was arrested by Cavite police shortly after the incident. The other suspects are at large.

Cruz is undergoing police interrogation as the other suspects are hunted down.

Meanwhile, another former PAOCTF member was arrested in Cebu the other night for the two-year-old double murder.

Police said PO2 Thomas Jacob Sarmiento, 31, was allegedly one of several men who abducted Dacer and Corbito. He was a member of the PAOCTF from September 1998 to March 1999.

Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano, head of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, presented Sarmiento to the media at the CIDG headquarters at Camp Crame late yesterday afternoon after he was flown in from Cebu.

Sarmiento denied any involvement in the Dacer murder. "I didn’t even know that there was a warrant for my arrest. I was on duty. And when I learned there was a warrant, I surrendered. I was already in Cebu when Dacer was abducted and murdered," he said in Filipino.

"I don’t know why I was implicated," he said.

The CIDG already has in custody a second suspect, Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, Matillano said.

Sarmiento, assigned at the Pardo police station in Cebu, was arrested Monday night by local CIDG officers led by Superintendent Edwin Tiocos, in Cardon, Cebu.

Police said they are still hunting down five other police officers, all former members of the PAOCTF, allegedly involved in the twin murders.

They were identified as Sarmiento’s brother SPO4 Mario Sarmiento, his brother-in-law Chief Inspector Vicente Arnado, SPO3 Benjamin Taladua, SPO1 Rolando Lakasandili and SPO1 William Reed. Police said all the suspects were implicated by witnesses.

Matillano said Dumlao had implicated Senior Superintendents Aquino and Cesar Mancao, who according to him, ordered the killing.

Dacer and Corbito were waylaid by several armed men on Nov. 24, 2000, at the busy intersection of Osmeña Highway and Pablo Ocampo Sr. in Manila at around 11 a.m. while heading for Dacer’s office at the Manila Hotel.

Dacer’s white Toyota Revo van was found abandoned in Silang, Cavite, shortly after the murders. On April 11, 2001, the victims’ remains were found in a remote barangay in Indang, also in Cavite.

It took a team of forensic experts from the University of the Philippines to identify the remains.

Dacer was probably silenced because he had documents about an "anomaly" involving former President Joseph Estrada, Matillano told reporters. He did not elaborate.

Estrada was ousted in January 2001 by a military-backed popular protest when his impeachment trial ended in a farce. He was replaced by then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who abolished the PAOCTF last year.

Estrada is on trial for allegedly taking bribes from illegal gambling rackets, misusing state funds and profiting from insider trading.

Prosecutors allege Estrada used the proceeds to buy mansions for himself and for his string of mistresses.

He is accused of amassing more than P4 billion ($75 million) during his 31-month rule and stashing the proceeds in a secret bank account with Equitable PCI Bank under the alias Jose Velarde. Prosecutors say the account contained P3.2 billion at one point.

Estrada denies the charges and claims that the trial was rigged. He maintains he was illegally ousted from the presidency and is, therefore, immune from suit.

The defunct police task force came under the spotlight late last year when about 200 police officers, all former members of the PAOCTF, were ordered reassigned to strife-torn Mindanao and other far-flung areas.

The officers protested the reassignments, claiming they were transferred because of rumors that Senator Lacson and fellow opposition lawmaker Sen. Gregorio Honasan were urging active military officers to launch a coup against the Arroyo administration.

Lacson and Honasan, both Estrada allies, denied the allegations.

Estrada created the PAOCTF, patterned after the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) which he headed as Vice President, and appointed then national police chief Lacson to head the anti-crime agency.

Lacson resigned on Jan. 21, 2001, after Estrada’s ouster. He ran for the Senate in May 2001 under Estrada’s coalition and won.