Dumlao plans to testify in next hearing of Dacer-Corbito slay case

MANILA, Philippines - Former police superintendent Glenn Dumlao, earlier tagged as one of the suspects in the November 2000 Dacer-Corbito double murder case, plans to testify before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) when it resumes its hearing on the case on Nov. 11.

Dumlao has been dropped from the list of accused by the Manila RTC.

In a related development, two of three suspects in the killing of a witness in the Dacer-Corbito case and his teenage female companion finally gave themselves up to authorities at Camp General Pantaleon Garcia, Imus, Cavite last Wednesday evening.

Applying an earlier decision of the Supreme Court, Manila RTC Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez withdrew the amended information filed before the lower court, which included Dumlao as an accused.

“Applying the decision of the Supreme Court in Soberano vs. People, Dumlao has been expressly excluded from the Amended Information dated Sept. 17, 2001, which had been declared valid by the Supreme Court,” said Garcia-Fernandez in her decision to drop Dumlao as an accused.

“Consequently, the Amended Information dated May 15, 2006 is ordered withdrawn,” she said.

Sources said Dumlao will corroborate the testimony of former police Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II.

“Yes (Dumlao will corroborate the testimony of Mancao). And additional details on the involvement of Erap (former President Joseph Estrada) because he (Dumlao) knows some information which Mancao doesn’t about Erap’s (alleged) involvement,” said the source.

Mancao is now with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Witness Protection Program (WPP).

Dumlao is under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and is staying in the NBI headquarters on Taft Ave. in Manila.

Dumlao’s lawyers Morel Callueng and Cesar Brillantes earlier said that their client could be considered as an ordinary witness, not as a “state witness” for the prosecution.

Dumlao, who was the former deputy commander of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) under the Philippine National Police, has opted to remain under the custody of the NBI.

His lawyers had told reporters at the NBI that their client “is morally convinced that former President Joseph Estrada ordered the execution of Dacer and Corbito.”

Dumlao had said that all orders for the surveillance of Dacer came from former senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, who was PNP chief Panfilo Lacson’s chief aide.

Suspect in Lopez slay surrenders

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad, Calabarzon police director, identified the suspects in the killing of Jimmy Lopez, one of the witnesses in the controversial double murder case, as Maximiano Masongsong, 50, of Trece Martires City, and Chrisnel Romea, 26, of Indang, both in Cavite.

A third suspect, a retired member of the US Army identified as Azucena Alcantara, 35, of Tanza, Cavite, is still at large and is now being hunted by a team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Criminal Intelligence Detection Group (CIDG) 4A.

Palad said the two suspects were responsible for the killing of Lopez, who was found dead in his rented apartment on Sept. 2, 2009 in Trece Matirez, Cavite. – With Ed Amoroso