Mancao dropped from PNP

President Arroyo has dismissed Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao II, a protégé of opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, from the ranks of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for serious neglection of duty.

Mancao has been absent without official leave (AWOL) from the PNP since former President Joseph Estrada was ousted in January 2001.

"By authority of the President," Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo signed the documents dismissing Mancao from the PNP service under Administrative Order (AO) 74 dated June 2, 2003, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR yesterday.

Mancao, along with several other PNP officers, was implicated in the disappearance of the late public relations practitioner Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver sometime in November 2000.

He is also among the young officers identified as protégés of Lacson, a former PNP chief.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr., as ex officio chairman of the National Police Commission, concurred in Mancao’s dismissal in a memorandum addressed to the President dated April 5, 2003.

"There is no doubt that subject PNP officer has not been heard or seen after former President Joseph Estrada left his post in January 2001. To date, he (Mancao) has not reported to his new assignment at the (PNP) Headquarters Support Services, nor appeared during the investigation of the instant case and is presumed to have left the country to avoid prosecution," Romulo said.

"Accordingly, his (Mancao) dismissal from the police service is in order," he added.

In AO 74, Romulo recalled that on Sept. 17, 2001, the Office of the President issued a presidential clearance for the PNP to conduct an administrative investigation against Mancao.

Acting on this presidential clearance, police Senior Superintendent Meynardo Beltran conducted summary hearings against Mancao, and recommended his dismissal on March 2, 2002.

Romulo noted that police Director Lucas Managuelod and then PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza, now transportation and communications secretary, concurred with Beltran’s resolution.

Romulo invoked Section 53 of Republic Act 6975, a law that established the PNP under a reorganized DILG, and Section 42 of RA 8551 in instituting Mancao’s summary dismissal.

Section 42 of RA 8551, which amended RA 6975, states that "any member or officer of the PNP who shall go on AWOL for (a) continued period for 30 days or more should be dismissed immediately from the service. His activities during the period shall be investigated and if found to have committed a crime, shall be prosecuted accordingly."

The Palace has instructed current PNP chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to execute the order for Mancao’s dismissal and strike the latter’s name off the PNP’s roster of officers.