New witness in Dacer case to link ‘brains’

The National Bureau of Investigation now has a witness who could provide the "link" to the alleged mastermind in the kidnapping and murder of public relations expert Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito last November.

NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco told reporters yesterday that they are now just awaiting for the appropriate arrest warrant to be issued by the Justice Department. "We are just waiting for the arrest warrant to be issued to arrest the link to the mastermind," Wycoco said.

Meanwhile, Cavite Governor Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. gave yesterday the NBI P300,000 as reward for identifying the human remains it had earlier recovered in Indang, Cavite, as those of Dacer’s and Corbito’s.

Revilla said the money was not taken from government funds and was earlier promised to the NBI.

"He (Dacer) was quite close to me as he had also served as my PR adviser. I am giving this reward to the NBI for its efforts to identify his remains," Revilla said.

Samuel Ong, chief of the NBI’s National Capital Region Office whose agents were tasked to investigate the Dacer case, told reporters that the reward will be given to their informant who was responsible in cracking the case and identifying the remains.

"Our asset was quite instrumental in cracking the case. He is now in hiding and is in dire need of financial assistance," Ong said.

It will be recalled that an independent probe conducted by University of the Philippines forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun concluded with finality that the remains the NBI found in a dry creek bed in Indang were that of Dacer’s and Corbito’s. — Mike Frialde