Palace: No feelers from Lacson yet

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who returned to the Philippines on Saturday after more than a year of hiding abroad, has yet to communicate with or even send feelers to President Benigno Aquino III, Malacañang said Sunday. “We haven’t heard from him yet. From what I understand he wants to spend the weekend quietly with his family. More than one year na sila hindi nagkikita so I think we’re just going to leave him there with his family," said Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office secretary Ramon Carandang in an interview on government-run dzRB radio. Lacson quietly returned to the country Saturday, arriving in Cebu via a Cathay Pacific flight before taking a private plane to Manila. Lacson, a former police official, fled the country January last year after being tagged as a key suspect in the killing of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in late 2000. He claimed to be a victim of political persecution by the then Arroyo administration.

Carandang declined to talk on the chances of Lacson’s presence bolstering the Palace’s attempt to ensure the ouster of impeached Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Senators will sit as judges in the impeachment trial of Gutierrez, after the House of Representatives impeached her last March 22. “The Senate trial will commence in May, if I’m not mistaken, yan yata ang date sa Senate. Hindi natin ipe-prejudge ano ang magiging boto ng senador diyan (The Senate trial will start in May, if I’m not mistaken. We will not prejudge how the senators will vote)," he said. Meanwhile, Carandang said it will leave to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to make the next moves regarding the reopening of the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. He also noted that Lacson had been calling for a reinvestigation of the case under a new administration. “If Sen. Lacson is willing to undergo that reinvestigation ... then we will have no problem with it. It’s the call of the Secretary of Justice," Carandang said. - KBK, GMA News