Honasan urges Lacson to face charges

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Gregorio Honasan reiterated his call yesterday for colleague Sen. Panfilo Lacson to face the double murder charges against him.

He said Lacson should avail himself of due process so he could air his side on the accusation that he masterminded the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, in November 2000.

“Sooner or later he will have to face the charges, he should undergo due process,” said Honasan, who went to Camp Crame with Senators Vicente Sotto III and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and met with detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV about the Senate committee on Civil Service and Government Reform.

He said that the last time he saw Lacson was before the May 10 presidential and local elections. Honasan was a classmate or mistah of Lacson in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class ’71.

The senator admitted he went into hiding after he was implicated to the foiled coup d’etat against the Arroyo administration in February 2006.

Honasan was arrested in November 2006 but the charges against him were ordered dropped by then justice secretary Raul Gonzalez.

The senator also advised Lacson to be careful in considering intelligence information as he pointed out that these could not be used as defense in court.