Senate mulls asking for custody of Lacson

The Senate is considering asking for the custody of fugitive Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is in hiding for his alleged involvement in the double murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, Senator Gregorio Honasan said Monday. "The Senate should be allowed an opportunity to gain custody of Lacson," said Honasan, who is known to be a close friend and former classmate of the fugitive senator. Honasan said that allowing the Senate get custody of the fugitive senator might help Lacson finally decide to show himself. "Maybe this will encourage him to surface and to subject himself to due process," he said. The senator admitted, however, that the Senate has no authority to command the courts to issue such an order. "The courts will decide on that. Ang magagawa lang namin (The only thing that we can do) is to express the sense of the chamber," he said. He said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and his other colleagues still have to discuss what's best to do in the situation. "Depende yan sa SP at sa pag-iisip ng ibang senador (Everything stil depends on the Senate president and the mindset of other senators)," he said. Lacson is alleged as the principal suspect in the November 24, 2000 killings of Dacer and Corbito in Cavite. At that time, Lacson was concurrent head of the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Orgaized Crime Task Force, the unit implicated in the twin murders. Lacson fled the country on Jan. 5, 2010, two days before the Department of Justice – then headed by Agnes Devanadera – filed two counts of murder against him before Branch 18. A month later, on February 5, the court issued an arrest warrant against Lacson. On Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs cancelled his regular and diplomatic passports on the grounds that he is a "fugitive from justice" as provided by the Philippine Passport Act of 1996. On Sunday, Lacson's family asked President Beningo Aquino III to cancel the arrest warrant issued against the fugitive senator and for a review of the double murder case. - VVP, GMANews.TV