Lacson readies defense as Mancao flies home

MANILA, Philippines - With the imminent return to the country of former police officer Cezar Mancao II, Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday said he was preparing his defense as he expected the government to try to link him to the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. “I cannot just take it sitting down and I will avail of all the legal remedies there is available under our judicial system. Hindi naman pupwede na balewalain mo lahat ito dahil kalayaan at buhay ko rin ang nakataya dito (We cannot just let it pass because it is my liberty and life that are at stake here)," Lacson told reporters. Mancao, a former senior superintendent of the Philippine National Police (PNP), is reportedly expected to link Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada to the murder of publicist Salvador ‘Bubby’ Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. In an affidavit he submitted to the Department of Justice through the Philippine mission in the United States, Mancao said that prior to the disappearance of Dacer and Corbito sometime in 2000, he overheard his superior, Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, taking orders from Lacson to dispose of the publicist on orders of Estrada. Estrada, who was the president then, was supposed to have been displeased by Dacer's plan to expose a corruption case that could hurt his government. Lacson was director general of the PNP and concurrent chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC). Aquino was operations head of the commission and Mancao was under his command. After Estrada was ousted in a popular uprising in January 2001, an investigation into the disappearance of Dacer and Corbito was launched and their remains were exhumed later in Cavite, after some of the PAOCC men involved led them to where they were buried. As the investigation prospered, Aquino, Mancao and another police officer, Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, disappeared. They later surfaced in the United States and the government claimed they were sent their with the prodding and help of Lacson, who was elected senator in May 2001 after he retired from the PNP. New witnesses Lacson had repeatedly denied all allegations linking him to the double murder case and claimed on Wednesday that the government was set to unleash more supposed witnesses just to pin him down. He said that an Alex Rellosa, whom he did not personally know, is being hidden by Major General Romeo Prestoza, chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), and would be “released" soon to testify against him (Lacson). “Tinatago nila para daw gamiting testigo laban sa akin (The ISAFP is hiding him to use against me). They will never run out of witnesses, that is one thing sure," Lacson said, citing his friends from the intelligence network. He said this was the reason Prestoza refused to submit himself to the Commission on Appointments. Nonetheless, Lacson said he would not be surprised with the supposed new witness and other witnesses in the future. “Sanay na ako kasi lumabas si Ador Mawanay, lumabas si Rosebud (I’m already used to it after Ador Mawanag and Rosebud came out)," Lacson said. He also said that he was not bothered with Mancao’s testimony as long as the latter would fulfill his promise to “stick to the truth." “Hindi ako nangangamba, hindi ako natatakot basta tutuo lang ang sabihin niya, Na-express na niya sa akin ito sa pamamagitan ng telepono when he was in Florida, sa pamamagitan ng text messages. Nasabi na nya sa akin na hindi magpapa-tempt, ire-resist niya lahat ng temptation at hindi siya magpa-fabricate. Sana pangatawanan niya yung ganung pananalita," Lacson said. [I am not afraid as long as he will tell only the truth. He already told me through phone, when he was in Florida, and through text messages that he will not be tempted, he will resist all temptation and he will not fabricate stories. I hope he will stick to what he said.] Lacson said what he was worried about was that a part of Mancao’s affidavit that he read “deviates from the truth." He pointed to Mancao’s statement in the affidavit that Lacson ordered the killing of another police official, then Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya. Despite this, Lacson is still confident that he will not be pinned down as the supposed conversation, when he uttered the order, did not happen. The senator also believed that the administration is just using as a smokescreen Mancao’s return to cover the issue in constituent assembly and other matters. He also believed that it is clear that the motive of the Department of Justice is not to prosecute the one responsible for the double murder but to persecute him. “Ito siguro yung kanilang pamamaraan para singilin yung katakot-takot na exposé tungkol sa corruption na ginawa ko dito sa Senado [Maybe it is their way of getting back at me for all the expose on corruption I did in the Senate]," Lacson said. He further said that it is the government that is putting Mancao’s life in danger. “Ang sabi nila kailangan matibay ang security, may bulletproof vest pero announce naman sila ng announce kung kelan darating. Kung talagang gusto nilang pangalagaan ang seguridad ni Mancao , wag na lang ianunsyo kung kelan darating , pag dumating na lang saka nila isecure (They are saying that the security should be tight, there should be a bulletproof vest but they are announcing the time and date of Mancao’s arrival. If they really want to protect Mancao’s security, they should have kept the details secret and secure him once he is in the country)," Lacson said. - GMANews.TV