Michael Ray Aquino asks to remain at NBI headquarters

(Updated 3:32 p.m.) Citing security reasons, the camp of former police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino on Monday asked a Manila court to allow him to remain in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). In a 12-page motion, Aquino's lawyer Simonette Sibal Pulido asked the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 to allow Aquino to remain in the custody of the NBI instead of being transferred to the Manila City Jail as earlier recommended by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. "We filed today yung urgent ad cautelam motion for the continued detention of accused Michael Ray Aquino at the NBI," Pulido told reporters after filing the motion. Pulido admitted that there was no specific threat against Aquino's life at the moment but they fear for his safety if he is detained at another detention facility. "None that I know of but the fact that there is no specific threat does not mean that we can discount that fact," she said. "Aquino is a decorated police officer, siya ang responsable sa mga maraming syndicated kidnapping, napakulong niya iyon. Maaaring merong totoong banta sa kanyang kaligtasan (he is responsible for the arrest of those responsible for syndicated kidnappings. So there really might be some threat to his life if he is placed in city jails)," she added. Pulido noted, however, that the court still has to set a hearing for their motion. "Ang husgado ang makakapagsabi kung saan siya idedetain (Only the court can decide on where he can be detained)," she said. Will stay at NBI In a radio interview meanwhile, NBI spokesman Cecilio Zamora Jr. said Aquino will stay at the NBI headquarters in Manila until the court orders him detained elsewhere. "As of the moment walang court order pa na ilipat siya. In the meantime na walang court order, mananatili siya sa ating custody (As of the moment, there is no court order to move him. In the meantime that there is no court order, Aquino will stay in NBI custody)," Zamora said in an interview on dzBB radio. Later in the day, the NBI Foreign Liaison Division submitted to the Manila RTC Branch 18 Aquino's return of warrant of arrest. The return of warrant of arrest narrated the time from when the court first issued the warrant of arrest against Aquino on April 28, 2006 until the time when the former police officer was turned over to Philippine authorities on Sunday morning. Aquino's camp filed the motion just after a day the former police officer was extradited from the United States, where he went a decade ago to supposedly escape prosecution over the Dacer-Corbito killings in November 2000. Aquino arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 (NAIA-2) early Sunday morning and was brought to NBI headquarters in Manila, where he currently shares a cell with at least 21 other detainees. The motion was likewise filed even before the NBI returned the warrant of arrest against Aquinot to the court. Dacer-Corbito Aquino is considered a protégé of Senator Panfilo Lacson, who was a suspect in the case until recently when the Court of Appeals ordered the dismissal of the criminal charges and the revocation of the arrest warrants issued against him. Lacson used to head the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force's (PAOCTF), the unit that allegedly carried out the killing of veteran publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. Aquino, during his stint in the police force, served under the PAOCTF as head of the unit's operations division. At the time, Lacson was Philippine National Police chief and concurrent PAOCTF head. Some of his subordinates at the latter were Aquino, and then police officers Cezar Mancao II and Glenn Dumlao. Mancao led the unit's Task Group Luzon with Dumlao as his deputy. Aquino and Mancao left the Philippines on June 24, 2001 – supposedly on instructions from Lacson, who was just elected as senator in May that year. Also, Dumlao went to the US in May 2003. In an affidavit executed two years ago, Mancao said Lacson wanted them to leave the country because the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "would surely go after us and link us [to] the Dacer-Corbito double murder case." The Department of Justice filed murder charges against Dumlao in May 2001 and against Mancao and Aquino in September that year. However, it was only in 2008 when the DOJ – then under the leadership of Raul Gonzalez – started extradition proceedings for Mancao, Dumlao, and Aquino. Mancao and Dumlao were extradited in 2009, while Aquino decided to seek court action to fight his extradition. Aquino's bid was unsuccessful, and his defeat at the US Court of Appeals in April this year paved the way for his extradition to the Philippines. While in detention in New Jersey, Aquino executed an affidavit dated August 9, 2010, clearing Lacson of involvement in the Dacer-Corbito killings. - RSJ/HS, GMA News