Michael Ray pleads not guilty to double murder raps

Ten years after a case was filed against him, former police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino on Monday pleaded not guilty to the double murder charges stemming from the killing of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. Aquino entered the not guilty plea when he was arraigned at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18, the sala of Presiding Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina. The former police colonel's arraignment was scheduled a month ago, but the Manila court deferred it to August 1 to resolve pending motions filed by Aquino's lawyers. In an arraignment, the court reads to the defendant (in this case, Aquino) the criminal charges against him. The defendant then pleads guilty or not guilty. If the accused declines to enter any plea, the judge pleads not guilty on his or her behalf. Aquino has repeatedly maintained he had nothing to do with the Dacer-Corbito killings in November 2000. He has likewise insisted that his former boss, then police chief and now senator Panfilo Lacson, never gave him any order to have Dacer killed. Aquino was one of Lacson's subordinates at the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF). The others include former police officers Cezar Mancao II and Glenn Dumlao. The task force supposedly carried out the Dacer-Corbito murders on Lacson's orders. Lacson may have been tagged by Mancao as the mastermind, but the senator is no longer considered an accused in the double murder case. This is because the Court of Appeals has already ruled with finality that the Department of Justice had no probable cause to file murder charges against Lacson. The CA's ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court last June based on mere technicality. The SC said that the Dacers can no longer appeal the CA's decision because the State, represented by the Office of the Solicitor General, has decided to forego its opportunity to file an appeal.

Aquino's affidavit After staying in the United States for 10 years, Aquino was extradited to the Philippines last June. He is presently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation and has a pending motion asking the court to allow him to remain at the bureau's headquarters. It was in May 2001 when the Department of Justice filed with the Manila court murder charges over the Dacer-Corbito killings. Named on the charge sheet are Dumlao and other PAOCTF men. In September that year, Mancao and Aquino were added on the list of suspects. 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. Aquino said Lacson never gave him orders to finish off a certain "Bero" and Delta," which supposedly referred to Reynaldo Berroya, Lacson's long-time nemesis, and Dacer. "I specifically deny there was any order given to me by then Police Director General Panfilo M. Lacson to liquidate any person, specifically a certain 'Bero' and 'Delta' sometime in October 2000 or as testified by Mr. Mancao in open court during his testimony in support of his Motion to Discharge as State witness 'sometime in September and early part of October 2000,’" said Aquino. "I specifically deny there was any order given to me by then Police Director General Panfilo M. Lacson to liquidate any person, specifically a certain 'Bero' and 'Delta' sometime in October 2000 or as testified by Mr. Mancao in open court during his testimony in support of his Motion to Discharge as State witness 'sometime in September and early part of October 2000,’" said Aquino. He added that as far as he knows, Lacson "has no personal knowledge about any special operations against any person, much less against a certain 'Delta' or 'Bero.'" — RSJ, GMA News