House leaders join calls for Lacson to surface

Senior lawmakers called on Sen. Panfilo Lacson to surface and disprove reports he is trying to evade arrest following the Supreme Court’s decision to reopen the May 1995 Kuratong Baleleng multiple murder case.

In a joint statement, Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles and Biliran Rep. Gerardo Espina said Lacson, as a member of the Senate, should be the first to abide by any Supreme Court order.

Pichay said that Lacson, as a former police chief and in his capacity as a lawmaker, should be the last person to go into hiding.

"Senator Lacson should come out," he said. "It would be very unstatesmanly of him to back away from the charges leveled against him in connection with the Kuratong Baleleng case."

The senator’s disappearance is causing anxiety among those who believe in him, Pichay said.

Espina said Lacson has nothing to fear if he is not guilty. "Let the wheels of justice grind now that the High Tribunal has ruled with finality for the reopening of the Kuratong Baleleng case," he said.

Nograles said there is no reason for Lacson to go into hiding, as he has submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the courts over the last eight years in connection with the case. He also said the Supreme Court is the last bulwark of justice and Lacson should respect it.

Earlier, administration lawmakers led by Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella and Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco said Lacson has no choice but to submit to justice.

"Is Ping (Lacson) on the run? I’m sure he has not joined the ranks of (escaped Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman) al-Ghozi, (Osama) bin Laden and Saddam Hussein," Syjuco said.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo chided Lacson for "continuing to foist a false conspiracy theory" that the Arroyo administration is out to ensure his arrest and imprisonment over the Kuratong Baleleng case.

Jesus Santos also said in a statement that Lacson "is wrong if he thinks that his media posturing will have any value in the courtroom. He is only deluding himself by claiming he has popular support on the basis of pathetic publicity stunts from a handful of paid partisans."

Santos warned Lacson to build up his legal defenses, as there is a "preponderance" of evidence that the senator was a principal in the 1995 summary execution of 13 Kuratong Baleleng gang members. "I can understand why Sen. Lacson is now in hiding and is even spending heavily on agitation... because the case against him is so strong."

"Let me warn him," Santos said, "the bulk of our people are not stupid. They can see right through his efforts as just another pathetic attempt to fool the public."

Lacson, he added, will also have to mount his legal defenses for other cases now pending against him before the Office of the Ombudsman and with three different Senate committees recommending the filing of new kidnap for ransom and drug trafficking cases against the senator. — With James Mananghaya, Edith Regalado and Ann Corvera