Businessman hiding Lacson in places near ports - DOJ source

MANILA, Philippines - A businessman is hiding fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the country, an intelligence report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed yesterday.

The intelligence report revealed Lacson is being provided safe haven in Batangas, Cebu and Palawan, particularly in places near the shoreline.

A ranking DOJ official showed a copy of the intelligence report that detailed Lacson is “just going around these places located near the ports where (the businessman) owns several establishments.”

The report only described the businessman friend of Lacson as a “sardines magnate who also owns a Chinese restaurant and a garment manufacturing company.”

Lacson went into hiding early this year after he was charged for the murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

The DOJ official, however, refused to elaborate, citing ongoing operations in tracking down the fugitive senator.

But the official said there are indications that Lacson might surface.

“I think he will come out after New Year or first week of January,” the official said.

The source said Lacson would surface only if the warrant of arrest is withdrawn and the charges reviewed.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she already received a copy of the intelligence report that confirmed her suspicions that Lacson is hiding in the country.

“All available intelligence reports point to possibility of Senator Ping being inside the country. So there’s ongoing operations aimed at effecting immediately the warrant of arrest of Sen. Ping,” she said.

De Lima also refused to elaborate, citing ongoing operations.

De Lima though revealed the possibility that Lacson was able to slip in from abroad through the southern backdoor.

Lacson reportedly fled to Hong Kong and from there, his whereabouts could not be determined.

Lacson fled last Jan. 5 on a flight to Hong Kong, a few days before the Manila regional trial court issued the warrant for his arrest.

“He (Lacson) did leave the country but somehow managed to get back, maybe via backdoor,” De Lima said.

She also stressed Lacson might have employed an elaborate ruse to make it appear that he fled abroad.

“Another theory is if he ever left at all – that the CCTV (showing him in the airport for his flight to Hong Kong) was just a charade,” De Lima said.

De Lima also warned those coddling Lacson could face criminal charges of harboring a fugitive from justice.

De Lima added the former personal driver of Lacson, who was arrested in Bataan last Monday, could become a state witness against the senator.

De Lima noted Reynaldo Oximoso was the driver of the vehicle where Lacson supposedly gave the hit order to his subordinates.

Lacson, then the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), also headed the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), the unit that allegedly carried out the operation to silence Dacer.

Former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II had testified that Oximoso was driving the vehicle when Lacson allegedly gave the order to PAOCTF operations chief Michael Ray Aquino to silence Dacer.

Mancao said he was in the car on their way to a restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan in October 2000 when he overheard Lacson give the order to Aquino.

“At that time (of the killings in November 2000), Oximoso was presumably still working for Sen. Ping since he only left the senator in 2004,” De Lima pointed out.

De Lima ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to check whether Oximoso could stand as a witness in the case.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said Oximoso would be subject to debriefing.

Oximoso was not included in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case but he has a warrant of arrest for the killing of five operatives of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Cubao, Quezon City on Jan. 17, 1984.

Oximoso, a retired Senior Police Officer 4, is currently under the custody of the Bataan provincial police led by Senior Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao.

Gunnacao said Oximoso denied the allegations of Mancao that he was the driver of the car when Lacson gave the hit order.

Oximoso even claimed there was an offer of P10 million to testify against Lacson, Gunnacao said.

Gunnacao said they would commit Oximoso to the custody of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court branch 217 where the retired policeman is facing charges for the murder of five CIDG operatives.

Oximoso reportedly went into hiding for almost 17 years in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela after the court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Gunnacao said they are checking into reports that on several occasions, Oximoso was seen with a high government official” resembling Lacson in Bagac town in Bataan province. With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Raffy Viray and Reinir Padua