Mancao camp: CA's pro-Lacson ruling is not yet final

The lawyer for former police officer Cezar Mancao II said the Court of Appeals still cannot implement the nullification of the arrest warrants against Senator Panfilo Lacson, the alleged mastermind in the Dacer-Corbito killings a decade ago. Speaking to reporters on Monday, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the CA erred when it said that the nullification of the arrest warrants is immediately executory. Topacio said that a ruling that can still be appealed at the Supreme Court does not yet attain finality. "The Court of Appeals cannot, by itself, order the immediate execution of any of its orders if there is an available appeal at the higher court. Not even the CA is above the law and not even the CA can bend the rules," said Topacio. This, even if the CA has already held that the lifting of the arrest warrants is an interlocutory order that should be enforced immediately. "Conversely, the order of the Court nullifying and setting aside the arrest warrants...should also be considered immediately executory," said the CA.

Last Friday, March 18, the Court of Appeals' Special Sixth Division issued a 16-page resolution that held that Feb. 3, 2011 ruling that nullified the arrest warrants is immediately executory. The appellate court said only the Supreme Court can reinstate the arrest warrants against the senator. "We nullified the arrest warrants and dismissed the unfounded charges against petitiner for two counts of murder... we should now allow the petitioner who is an incumbent senator of the Republic of the Philippines to perform his job in the Senate," it said. The Court of Appeals also denied Mancao's motion to intervene in the case and to appeal the CA's ruling. Mancao is not a direct party to the case Lacson filed at the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals said Mancao has no legal personality to intervene in the instant case. On Monday, Topacio said that his client will file a motion for reconsideration before the CA. If the appellate court denies his motion, their camp will seek another remedy at the Supreme Court. "If that's the decision we'll still file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days. If that is denied then we intend to elevate this to SC," said Topacio. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMA News