DOJ not keen on using Lacson's ex-driver as witness in Dacer-Corbito case

(Updated 6:18 p.m.) A government prosecutor on Friday said he is not keen on using as a witness in the Dacer-Corbito case the former driver of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is implicated as the mastermind in the killings. Lacson's former driver, ex-policeman Reynaldo Oximoso, earlier cleared Lacson of involvement in the killing of veteran publicist Salvador "Bubby' Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. Senior State Prosecutor Ong said Oximoso may only be considered as a witness for the prosecution should he reverse what he said in his affidavit. "I will not be using Oximoso (as a witness) unless Oximoso will start to say another thing," said Ong, head of the Department of Justice panel that is prosecuting Lacson before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18. Oximoso had executed an affidavit on August 2, 2010 denying Lacson ordered Dacer and Corbito's killing. Oximoso said he never heard Lacson make any orders to kill Dacer. Oximiso supposedly drived the vehicle where Lacson ordered his close aide, former Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, to finish off Dacer. "Aking pinasisinungalingan ang nasabing pangyayari. Hindi kailanman nagsalita ng ganun si Heneral Lacson kay S/Supt. Aquino. Sa abot ng aking kaalaman, hindi nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na magkakasama silang tatlo sa sasakyang aking minamaneho at pinag-uusapan kailanman ang tungkol sa kaso ng nasirang Bubby Dacer at ng kanyang driber na si Corbito," said Oximoso. (I deny the incident. General Lacson never made such statement to S/Supt. Aquino. As far as I know, there was never an incident where Mancao, Lacson, and Aquino were together in the vehicle I was driving. They never discussed anything about the late Bubby Dacer and his driver Corbito.) Oximoso denied he himself participated in the controversial case. "Ito ay akin din mariing pinabubulaanan sa kadahilanang ang aking trabaho bilang security-aide/driver ay pangalagaan lamang ang seguridad at ipagmaneho lang si Heneral Lacson at wala nang iba," he said. (I vehemently deny this on the grounds that my job as a security-aide/driver only entails ensuring the security of, and driving for General Lacson and no one else.) Oximoso was arrested in Bataan on Monday, November 1 for the killing of five policemen in 1984. He is now detained at the Quezon City Jail. Test of will for Aquino admin At the Senate, Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said the hunt for Lacson is becoming a test of will for the Aquino administration. "Nagiging test ito tuloy ng will ng gobyerno (This is testing the government's will) to go after fugitives of justice," Cayetano said during a press conference. Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is looking into two scenarios: Lacson left the country but managed to return through "backdoor means," and the other being Lacson may not have fled the country at all. Cayetano, however, said that the NBI should just do its job. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating. I hope there will be less talk about this and then gawin na lang yung magagawa (they should just do what they have to do)," he said. He likewise said the Aquino administration should give Lacson an assurance that he will be given due process if he decides to surface. "I understand (his) anxiety (but) I think Sen. Ping should also consider that this is a much more friendly government," he said. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/VVP/RSJ , GMANews.TV