Lacson won't pull strings with new NBI chief, aide says

Fugitive Senator Panfilo Lacson, the main suspect in the nine-year Dacer-Corbito double murder case, will not take advantage of his past ties with newly appointed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Magtanggol Gatdula, the senator's aide said Sunday. “Director Gatdula should know Senator Lacson better. He won’t use their past association to make him not perform his job," retired police officer Ricardo Dandan, Lacson’s administrative officer, said in a statement. Gatdula was Lacson’s subordinate at the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), the group implicated in the Nov. 24, 2000 killing of veteran publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito. Gatdula, whose appointment to the NBI was announced on Thursday, was not part of the PAOCTF division that was tagged in the twin murders. Gatdula earlier vowed he would not go soft on his former boss, who is believed hiding abroad and facing charges in connection with the Dacer-Corbito case. The NBI is the lead agency hunting for Lacson, who fled the country January this year before the Department of Justice (DOJ) could indict him for double murder before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18. The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has issued a Red Notice for the arrest of Lacson after it was tapped by the NBI for help in the search for fugitive senator, who was last reported having been seen in Rome and may have spent the past months hiding in Europe. Lacson had repeatedly denied involvement in the killings. He has been reportedly sending feelers that he will surrender soon. President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III’s appointment of Gatdula has been met with criticisms because of Gatdula’s supposed ties with Lacson. Gatdula, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1976, was deputy chief for administration of PAOCTF, which Lacson led when he was still a police officer. Malacañang has denied that Gatdula’s appointment was connected with Lacson’s possible return to the country. “I do not believe that there is any relevance or bearing to the appointment of Mr. Gatdula. The senator’s feelers were done prior to the appointment of Mr. Gatdula," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing last week. Lacson is known to be close to Aquino when the latter was still a senator. The two were on the same side when several senators chastised Senator Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. for his alleged use of influence to benefit from the controversial C-5 road extension project. - KBK/VS GMANews.TV