Senators slam wanted posters of Ping

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Benigno Aquino III said the government must stop the persecution of Sen. Panfilo Lacson and deal with him in accordance with the law.

“Wanted posters, especially those with ‘dead or alive’ are fashionable among cowboys in the US wild, wild west during the 19th century. This should be reconsidered and (the government should) run after Lacson the usual way,” Pimentel said.

Aquino said Lacson and his supporters could not be blamed for crying persecution because of the way he was being treated.

He said people like Lacson and national broadband network scam witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. are being charged and detained after their many exposés against the Arroyo government, while former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, who was implicated in the fertilizer fund anomaly, and resigned Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, who was also implicated in the broadband network deal, are out of jail despite their alleged involvement in government anomalies.

Lacson left the country before a warrant of arrest was issued against him in connection with the double murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Lacson said he could not risk life and security in the hands of the Arroyo government.

Aquino said he could not blame Lacson if he would not trust the justice system under the Arroyo administration.

He said the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of plunder charges against Bolante for allegedly diverting fertilizer funds for the campaign of Mrs. Arroyo in the 2004 polls. Bolante has not yet been charged in court and is even running for governor of Capiz, his home province, reportedly under the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.

The Blue Ribbon Committee also accused Abalos and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of involvement in the anomalous national broadband network deal. The panel said Mrs. Arroyo must also be further investigated for her involvement in the deal after the end of her term, citing her immunity from suit while in office.

NBI approves wanted posters

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that there is nothing wrong in posting the “Wanted” posters with photographs of the fugitive senator after a Manila court had issued a warrant of arrest against Lacson.

Government agents have launched a manhunt for Lacson.

Lawyer Edward Villarta, chief of the NBI National Capital Region (NCR), said the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) put up the posters as a way to dare Lacson to surrender and face the charges.          

Villarta, who is also NBI spokesman, said the photos of Lacson can also be published in newspapers without violating any law.

VACC president Dante Jimenez and Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II, led last Tuesday the putting up of posters with Lacson’s photos with the word “Wanted” and “Crim. Case 10-272905-06 (Double Murder Case).”

Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 issued a warrant of arrest against Lacson last Friday or about a month after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the double murder charges against him. Bureau of Immigration records showed that Lacson went to Hong Kong last Jan. 5.

Raps against Erap withheld

The relatives of Dacer have withheld the filing of charges against former President Joseph Estrada, who was also implicated in the double murder by Mancao.

Demetrio Custodio, lawyer of the Dacers, said his clients had already signed the complaint against Estrada in October last year but recently told him not to file it with the DOJ just yet.

“We’ve been ready with that (complaint against Estrada) since last year and I’m merely waiting for their instruction for me to file. But they (clients) said they’re still considering it,” he told The STAR.

In an earlier television interview, Dacer’s daughter Carina was quoted as saying that they were hoping that Lacson would face the charges in court and reveal what he knows, including the alleged involvement of a former top government official.

A source said the Dacers were advised not to file the complaint yet against Estrada, who is running for president.

“It’s not good to file right now because Erap will claim persecution to derail his campaign. He will have something to blame for his loss,” the source said.

Custodio said the Dacer sisters Carina, Sabina Dacer-Reyes, Emily Dacer-Hungerford and Amparo Dacer-Henson signed the complaint against Estrada before the Philippine consuls general in New York and California in the US where the siblings are now based.

The lawyer refused to discuss details of the complaint before it is filed at the DOJ.

He, however, revealed that the complaint against Estrada was based on the testimony of Mancao at the trial.

“There was clear indication in Mancao’s testimony in court of President Estrada’s involvement in the case,” Custodio explained.

Mancao earlier testified at the Manila court that Lacson sought the liquidation of Dacer after the latter threatened to expose Estrada’s involvement in insider trading in the stock market.

He reportedly said Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, gave the order “to get rid” of Dacer and that he was “directly getting orders from Malacañang.”

Mancao also testified that Dacer was “Operation Delta” and that the man codenamed “bigote” (moustache) mentioned in his affidavit was Estrada.

The DOJ only reopened the double murder case after Mancao implicated Lacson, hoping to finally uncover the mastermind in the killings. – With Edu Punay, Sandy Araneta