Mancao pleased with cancellation of Lacson’s passport — lawyer

Former Police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II is pleased with the cancellation of the passports of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the principal suspect in Dacer-Corbito double murder case, according to his lawyer. In statement, US-based Arnedo Valera said Mancao, who was also among the 21 accused in the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000, is “gratified" that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has canceled Lacson’s individual and diplomatic passports. Valera said Mancao, who worked under Lacson when the senator was still a police official and head of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), remains committed to cooperating with authorities toward the resolution of the case as a witness. “[He remains] firm to his commitment to the Filipino people and our justice system that the truth will come out and justice will prevail… Despite threats and physical dangers that he is facing, Mancao wanted to leave the legacies of truth and justice not only to the families of Dacer and Corbito but as well as to his family and children," Valera said. Mancao was made a state witness in the double murder case in July 2009, but the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said he is still considered a suspect. In his affidavit, Mancao implicated Lacson and a certain "Bigote" — believed to be former President Joseph Estrada — in the crime, although both Lacson and Estrada had repeatedly denied involvement in the case. Lacson fled the country in January before the Department of Justice (DOJ) could indict him for the Dacer-Corbito killings before Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18. To this day, Lacson has yet to be arrested, with his whereabouts unknown. The DFA canceled Lacson’s passport on Saturday, or more than six months after a Manila court issued a warrant for his arrest. “Finally, we are seeing the wheels of justice moving in the right direction," Valera said of the cancellation. - JA/KBK, GMANews.TV