RP wants Aquino, Mancao extradited

The Philippine government will seek the extradition of former police senior superintendents Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao who have been accused in the murder of public relations practitioner Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the issuance of the warrants for the arrests of Aquino and Mancao by the Manila regional trial court (RTC) will set into motion the hearing of the double murder case which has been stalled for more than five years.

"We have already asked the Manila regional trial court... to furnish us copy of the warrants of arrest it has issued against Aquino and Mancao," Gonzalez said.

He admitted though the Philippine government’s request for the extradition of Aquino and Mancao "will depend on how the US government will react."

Aquino is presently being tried by a US court for espionage along with Filipino-American intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo.

Mancao, on the other hand, has been taken into custody by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a possible "material witness" against Aquino and Aragoncillo. The former police officer was later released after posting bail.

On Thursday, Manila RTC Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez issued the arrest warrant for Aquino and Mancao, along with Senior Police Officer 2 (SPO2) Allan Villanueva for their involvement in the Dacer-Corbito case, citing probable cause.

Aquino and Mancao were tagged as the prime suspects in the killing of Dacer and Corbito.

Before they could be charged in Manila in July 2001, both fled to the United States.

Aquino was arrested in the US last year for allegedly passing on classified information coming from Aragoncillo, who worked as an intelligence analyst of the FBI.

Aquino was indicted on Oct. 6 on a conspiracy charge which carries a jail sentence of up to five years, and another charge for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

Both Aquino and Mancao were ranking officers of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) along with Villanueva whose operatives were implicated in the kidnapping and murder of Dacer and Corbito.

Senior State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo said the DOJ will study the filing of extradition request against Aquino and Mancao.

Kimpo though conceded the Philippine government might have to wait for the trial of Aquino and Aragoncillo to be finished in the US before it could file the petition and invoke the extradition treaty. - Jose Rodel Clapano