Mancao wants speedy trial of Dacer-Corbito case — lawyer

CHICAGO – Retired police officer Cezar Mancao II wants a speedy trial for the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, where he is a witness, for justice’s sake and so that he could return to his normal life, his US-based lawyer said. “He wanted this case to be expedited so that justice will be served," said Arnedo Valera in a recent interview with GMANews.TV. Valera said he recently talked with Mancao over the phone for 30 minutes wherein the former police officer reiterated his “determination to help solve these murder cases." Valera also said Mancao took the opportunity to thank Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for allowing him to return to his safe house. Before that, Mancao, 48, was being “detained" at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) compound in Manila, which Valera said is in violation of an agreement Mancao signed when he joined the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“[Mancao] signed a Witness Protection Program with the Department of Justice last year. One of the important terms and conditions of that program is that he be placed in a secret safe house. For the NBI to detain him, is clearly intimidating him as they refuse to allow him to leave the NBI premises. That is why we are very thankful for the timely intervention of Secretary De Lima," Valera said. Mancao was also accused in the crime. His motion requesting for his removal in the charge sheet is still pending in the Manila Regional Trial Court branch 18, which is hearing the case. Mancao was a former subordinate of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the prime suspect in the case, in the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), the group implicated in the Nov. 2000 abduction and murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito. Lacson, who is now in hiding, was also head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) then. Another co-accused, Michael Ray Aquino, 44, is still awaiting court ruling on his appeal in the US opposing his extradition. - Joseph Lariosa/KBK, GMANews.TV