Dacers, Mancao taking case vs Lacson to Supreme Court

MANILA, Philippines -  The legal battle of Sen. Panfilo Lacson involving the November 2000 killings of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito might not be over yet despite the recent Court of Appeals (CA) ruling clearing the senator in the double murder case that prompted him to surface after more than a year in hiding.

The camps of the Dacer family and witness former senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II, who tagged him as mastermind in the murders, revealed their plan to appeal the CA ruling before the Supreme Court.

Mancao’s legal counsel Ferdinand Topacio said he has coordinated with Dacer family lawyer Demetrio Custodio Jr. and they agreed to pursue the option of filing a petition for review before the SC.

In a statement, Topacio said they welcome the return of Senator Lacson to the country and hope that he would face whatever decision the SC would hand down.

“We presume that he came out of hiding on the basis of the decision of the Court of Appeals invalidating his warrant of arrest. We only wished that he had shown the same kind of fealty to the rule of law when a competent court issued a warrant of arrest against him.

“We also hope that he will be as compliant to the law should the Supreme Court reverse the Court of Appeals and reinstate his warrant of arrest by submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the courts and not going into hiding again,” the lawyer said.

Topacio urged Lacson to explain to the public why he opted to evade arrest when he should have submitted to the rule of law as an elected senator of the country and surrendered.

“Respect and obedience to the law cannot be made on a selective basis. One cannot ignore the law when it is inconvenient or unfavorable to him, and honor the law when it suits him,” the lawyer added.

Lacson returned to the country before noon Saturday at the Mactan International Airport in Cebu after arriving on board a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong.

The senator later boarded a twin engine Baron-type aircraft with tail number RPC 2711 in Cebu bound for Manila at about 4:30 p.m. and arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 6:30 p.m.

Lacson left the country on Jan. 5 last year, two days before he was charged with murder in connection with the Dacer-Corbito case after suspect turned witness Mancao implicated him in the double murder.

The Department of Justice is considering a reinvestigation of the case after the CA ruling cleared the senator in the double murder due to inconsistencies in Mancao’s testimony.    

Meanwhile, former anti-narcotics agent Mary Ong has cautioned President Aquino in dealing with Lacson.

Ong said the initial legal victory of Lacson in the double murder would not stop her from pursuing the truth.

“Ping wins by fear factor. He gets what he wants no more no less from the day he was a fugitive and accused until the day even a president succumbed to his demand. The President should be cautious with people around him,” said Ong.

Ong has long been under the Witness Protection Program (WPP) helping the previous administration in pushing accusations against Lacson and several other former and active police officials.

“Dehado kami (we are underdogs) from day 1 but that does not stop us because we hold the truth and the truth always prevail. We will triumph in the end. God will see us through,” Ong added.

Sources said Lacson did not really leave the country the whole time.

He reportedly stayed at the place of his former aide in the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) in Valencia in Bukidnon.

Information has it that Lacson later proceeded to Cagayan de Oro and eventually went to Cebu.

Elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) tasked to track down Lacson exerted no effort to locate him, knowing the senator’s connection with the President.

Lacson supported Aquino during the May 10, 2010 presidential elections and even assigned his staff to assist the campaign. With Cecille Suerte Felipe