DACER DAUGHTERS SEEK INDICTMENT OF ERAP FOR THEIR FATHER'S SLAY
MANILA, OCTOBER 19, 2009 (STAR) The lawyer of the daughters of slain publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer confirmed yesterday that the siblings have signed a complaint seeking the indictment of deposed President Joseph Estrada for the murders of their father and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000.Lawyer Demetrio Custodio said he sent earlier this month a draft complaint to his clients Carina Dacer, Sabina Dacer-Reyes, Emily Dacer-Hungerford and Amparo Dacer-Henson, which they signed and sworn last week before consul generals in New York and California in the US where they now live.
“All four signed the complaint. It should be on its way back here already,” he said.
Custodio said Carina told him that he would receive the signed complaint by today. He said he would file the complaint immediately after getting it.
The suspects snatched Dacer and Corbito at the corner of Zobel Roxas Street and South Super Highway at the boundary of Manila and Makati on Nov. 24, 2000. They were subsequently brought to Indang, Cavite where they were killed and their bodies burned.
Although the lawyer refused to discuss details of the complaint before it is filed at the Department of Justice, he revealed that the new complaint was based on the testimony of state witness former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II before Manila trial court that linked Estrada to the killing.
“There was clear indication in Mancao’s testimony in court of President Estrada’s involvement in the case,” he explained.
He cited Mancao’s testimony before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 during hearing last Sept. 3.
“Who exactly were those personalities who were involved in that operation (to kill Dacer) or have knowledge about the operation?” state prosecutor Hazel Valdez asked Mancao.
Based on official transcript of the court hearing, Mancao replied: “I can say some people who are involved or have knowledge about the operation were then President Erap, Joseph Estrada because (former senior superintendent) Michael Ray Aquino told me in his office.”
Custodio likewise stressed that the complaint against Estrada is different from the complaint filed by the Dacer siblings against Sen. Panfilo Lacson, which was already investigated by the DOJ.
He reiterated that their decision to file the complaint against Estrada was not based on the earlier revelation of Lacson implicating Estrada in the double murder case — but solely on the testimony of Mancao during hearing in Manila court.
Mancao earlier testified at the Manila court that Lacson sought the liquidation of Dacer after the latter threatened to expose Estrada’s involvement in insider trading in the stock market.
He reportedly accused Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, of giving the order “to get rid” of Dacer and that he was “directly getting orders from Malacañang.”
He also testified that Dacer was “Operation Delta” and that the man codenamed “bigote” (moustache) mentioned in his affidavit was Estrada.
The DOJ only reopened the double murder case after Mancao implicated Lacson in the killings.
In his affidavit signed last Feb. 14 in Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Mancao said he was present when Lacson allegedly gave the “hit” order to then police official Aquino.
Mancao, who is being eyed by DOJ as state witness in the double murder case, stated that it was sometime in October 2000 that he heard Lacson ask Aquino: “Noy, kelan ba titirahin si Delta kasi naiirita na si Bigote sa kanya (When do we hit Delta because Bigote is already irked with him),” apparently referring to Dacer’s given codename.
Aquino replied: “U-unahin na muna namin si Bero (former police intelligence chief Reynaldo Berroya) malapit na kami sa kanya (we will hit Berroya first, we are already close).”
Lacson, according to Mancao, replied: “Pagsabayin na ninyo sila (hit them both simultaneously).”
Lacson headed the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force while concurrently chief of PNP. Aquino, on the other hand, was operations chief of the PAOCTF while Mancao served as chief of Task Force Luzon of the PAOCTF. – Edu Punay
Miriam pushes for National Flood Management Commission (The Philippine Star) Updated October 19, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed a bill seeking to create a National Flood Management Commission, an agency dedicated to flood prevention and crisis management.
In the explanatory note of Senate Bill 3484 or the proposed National Flood Management Act, Santiago said the commission will adopt and promulgate rules and regulations establishing minimum standards for the planning and management of flood warning systems, changes to flood infrastructure, as well as programs for land acquisition and relocation if disaster strikes again.
The agency will also store all flood data in the country.
“This bill (SB 4384) seeks to protect the public from the risks caused by storms by minimizing the occurrence of floods and providing adaptive measures in case of failure of prevention,” the senator said.
The proposed commission, which will be under the supervision and administrative control of the president, will have a chairperson and four members who will all be appointed by the chief executive. Santiago proposed that a civil engineer with at least 15 years of work experience head the commission, while the members include an expert in soil management, a geologist, waterways expert, and a representative from the Department of Public Works and Highways. – Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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