DOJ asked to reinstate Dumlao as accused in Dacer-Corbito case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) received a plea to reinstate former police Superintendent Glenn Dumlao as an accused in the twin killings of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. The plea was made on Thursday by the lawyer of former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II. Mancao and Dumlao were subordinates of then Philippine National Police chief and now Senator Panfilo Lacson, a key suspect in Dacer and Corbito's deaths who remains in hiding. Mancao and Dumlao worked under Lacson in the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), the unit that allegedly carried out the twin killings. In a letter addressed to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the DOJ should move include Dumlao as a suspect. Topacio cited that Dumlao was removed from the charge sheet in 2005 on the condition that he would serve as a state witness in the case. Based on Dumlao's affidavits, Topacio said the former policeman appeared to have direct knowledge of, and participation in the killings. Dumlao should thus be considered a suspect, Teopacio said. "We implore you to immediately reassess the situation with respect to Dumlao and act in either of two ways: ask him to provide evidence for the people, or again include him as one of the accused otherwise, a confessed perpetrator will have gone free, thumbing his nose at the DOJ and laughing heartily at its inaction," Topacio wrote in his letter to De Lima. "Dumlao admits to participation in the crime and hence possesses information of great value to the prosecution, so much so that he must either be utilized as a state witness or, if he refuses, then as particeps criminis, he must be included fortwith as an accused," said Topacio. "To leave things as they are, with Dumlao discharged... would result in one of the major perpetrators running scot -free without incurring criminal liability, without aiding the prosecution of the case and even susceptible to manipulation by interested parties, as we suspect is being done to him now by making statements discrediting the DOJ and the efforts of its state prosecutors," he added. Dacer-Corbito case In the Dacer-Corbito case, the People of the Philippines accuses more than 20 policemen, including Mancao, of being involved in the killings. The Supreme Court, in October 2005, removed Dumlao from the list of the accused on the condition that he would become a state witness. DOJ Senior State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo leads the team of prosecutors handling the case. Another case, the People of the Philipines against Panfilo Lacson, is being handled by DOJ prosecutors led by Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong. Both cases are pending before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18. – VVP/RSJ, GMANews.TV