PNP ready to arrest Ping

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police (PNP) officials yesterday declared they were ready to arrest their former chief, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whom they described as a “fugitive.”

Spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said the PNP is duty-bound to implement the law regardless of the personalities involved.

“No one is above the law. We have to serve (the warrant of arrest for Lacson),” Espina said. “We consider him a fugitive.”

Espina said three tracking teams from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) under Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona have been tasked to go after the senator.

Lacson, who left the country last Jan. 5 for Hong Kong, said his flight was not an indication of guilt but rather to avoid harassment by the Arroyo administration. Lacson served as PNP chief during the short-lived administration of former President Joseph Estrada.

“As law enforcers, we will continue to enforce the law. For a person being charged, this is the most opportune time to surface to clear his name,” Espina added.

Espina said the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime has already coordinated with the International Police (Interpol) to include Lacson in its “Red List” of wanted persons who should be taken into custody and immediately deported.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) joined the mounting calls for Lacson to surrender and face the charges in court.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said it would be better for Lacson to come out and face the charges to clear his name.

“Our appeal is for him to surrender and face the charges, so that he would be able to clear his name. If he will not face the charges then this case will always be hanging (on his head),” Mantaring said.

Mantaring told a news conference that the NBI has already requested their counterparts abroad to locate Lacson.

Mantaring wanted Lacson’s lawyer Alex Avisado to convince the senator to surrender.

“If the lawyer would meet with us or if we could send our agents to talk to him, then it would be better,” Mantaring said.

“If we could talk to the lawyer of Sen. Ping Lacson, then maybe we could convince him to surrender Sen. Lacson,” he said.

Mantaring also denied allegations that they were pressured to arrest Lacson.

Avisado earlier claimed the issuance of the warrant of arrest against Lacson came about because of the pressure exerted by the government.

Avisado said Manila regional trial court judge Myra Fernandez was pressured to issue the warrant in exchange for the approval of her application as justice of the Court of Appeals.

Malacañang, on the other hand, said Avisado’s statement was an insult to the judge’s integrity.

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said the allegations made by Avisado were nothing but a slur on Fernandez.

Olivar said the claims were without basis and totally unrelated to the case.

Olivar stressed Malacañang has no interest in the case but just wanted to advise the critics of the administration to spare the judge.

Set an example

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, for his part, reiterated his appeal to Lacson to come out of hiding and face the charges.

He said Lacson should be a role model for the Filipino nation as a law-abiding citizen, being a lawmaker himself.

Enrile dared Lacson to face the charges and set an example on how one should submit to the legal processes amid the controversies over the case.

Enrile said he was in the same situation when he was arrested and charged during the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino in 1990 and implicated in the so-called EDSA uprising during the early months of the administration of President Arroyo in 2001.

“Though already elected as senator, everybody knows how I was harassed and prosecuted under the Aquino administration that charged me of multiple rebellion. But I did not hide. Instead I faced all the charges before our courts. I was jailed in both these accusations under the Aquino and Arroyo terms,” Enrile said.

“In the end, I was acquitted from all the charges, acquittals which were both affirmed by no less than the Supreme Court itself,” he said.

Enrile expressed belief that Lacson would be eventually acquitted of the charges.

Enrile said that as a lawyer, he is confident of Lacson’s innocence and is even willing to handle the case.

“If I am not a senator... I am willing to handle his case... based on the evidence presented to me by Senator Lacson, on a scale of one to 10, at least an eight, I can acquit him,” he said.

Enrile said that even if Lacson is arrested and detained, he would continue to function as a senator, like detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is charged for the failed coup attempt in 2003.

Hiding here?

Mantaring, on the other hand, confirmed the statements made by NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz of the initial reports on Lacson’s possible whereabouts.

He said the NBI received several leads but they are cross checking all the details to ascertain where the senator could be hiding.

“I think (Lacson) does not have a visa in the United States. His visa in the US was cancelled. And he has no valid visa in Australia, although we initially had information that he was in Australia, but he is not in Australia because he has no valid visa there. We already requested the assistance of our counterparts, police attaché of other countries. They are helping us in locating his whereabouts,” he said.

Mantaring pointed out the possibility of a false lead meant to mislead the authorities.

“But you could not just take it lightly so we have to verify,” he said.

Mantaring said they have already asked Hong Kong immigration for information regarding the arrival of Lacson.

Mantaring denied reports that Lacson is hiding in the country and has taken refuge somewhere in Mindanao.

He said the NBI has no information that Lacson is already in the country.

“No information that he is being coddled. If he is abroad, we have no jurisdiction over this,” he said.

Immigration Airport Operation Division chief Ferdinand Sampol also denied reports that Lacson had already come back.

Sampol said they received no reports from other airports regarding the supposed arrival of Lacson. - With Cet Dematera, Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Rudy Santos