Ping bewails media spin on Dacer-Corbito case

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson said his being tagged as mastermind in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case by a former subordinate was “media spin” and part of a “game plan” of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Speaking at a forum of the Manila Overseas Press Club yesterday, Lacson said the testimony of former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II is unlikely to establish that he was the mastermind of the killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

The senator said some lawyers who attended the hearing on Mancao’s testimony had told him that Mancao “testified categorically that as chief of Task Group Luzon of PAOCTF (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force), he was reporting to and getting direct orders from the former president (Joseph Estrada).”

He said Mancao never mentioned in his former affidavit executed in Florida that he was reporting directly to the former president and only referred to a certain “Bigote.”

“I don’t know what direction he’s taking when he mentioned that. But I can only speculate. To me, that is quite positive,” Lacson said.

Lacson also reiterated he is ready with the arrival of another suspect in the case, former police officer Glenn Dumlao, but could not prepare his defense yet to counter the prosecution because “so far it’s all media hype that I was implicated, that I was involved.”

He said “conjectures, speculations and a lot of media spin” clouded the case.

“My point here is if the DOJ – and I’m glad there is a new DOJ secretary – will push through with its direction and game plan, which is to persecute rather than prosecute, instead of serving justice they might do more injustice,” Lacson said.

Asked why Estrada would now be the focus of the investigation, Lacson said he did not know and dismissed speculation that it was because he had withdrawn his own presidential bid.

“There’s no connection,” he said. 

Sen. Francis Escudero, for his part, warned those who might take advantage of Mancao to vilify Estrada and Lacson, both leading figures of the opposition.

Escudero said the reopening of the double murder case was intended to obtain justice for Dacer and Corbito “and not to serve anyone’s selfish, political agenda.”

“The government should take extra care in handling the prosecution of those allegedly involved in the murders and prevent the proceedings from taking a political turn,” Escudero said.

“The latest developments come at a time when former President Estrada’s ratings have surged in the latest surveys, causing sleepless nights for some administration officials,” Escudero added.

He also asked Mancao to be “steadfast in telling the truth and resist any attempt to make use of his testimony to serve political ends.” 

Dumlao homecoming

Dumlao is set to arrive in the country on Sunday even as the DOJ has yet to decide on his application to become state witness in the reopening of the double murder case.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, head of DOJ Task Force on media killings, said the US Justice Department has already approved his return to the country following his submission of a deposition on a pending extradition case against a fellow suspect, former police officer Michael Ray Aquino, before a federal district court in New Jersey.

“Arrangements with the US Marshall for the transfer of custody of Dumlao were already made,” he told reporters.

The DOJ official said Dumlao would be immediately brought to the NBI headquarters in Manila upon arrival.

He also stressed that the DOJ has yet to review the new affidavit of Dumlao.

“We don’t have yet his affidavit, which will be used in the case – unlike Mancao who furnished the DOJ a copy of his affidavit before he arrived back, so the prosecutors had time to decide to discharge him as accused,” he explained.

Blancaflor said Dumlao’s new affidavit “will be basis to discharge him as an accused to become state witness. At this time, we don’t know yet what he would contribute to the case.”

Meanwhile, Estrada said he is not close to Mancao and could not have given the former police officer direct orders.

He said during his presidency, he was only directly communicating with Lacson, who was then the country’s police chief.

“I barely knew him, who he is, what his position is. I only talked to Lacson. I didn’t even talk to undersecretaries in the Cabinet,” Estrada told Arnold Clavio in GMA 7’s “Unang Hirit.”

Mancao told a Manila court on Wednesday that he was directly getting orders from Estrada, but he didn’t say if the orders included abducting and murdering Dacer and his driver. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Edu Punay