PALACE TO PING: YOU MAY BE GOOD IN HIDING BUT JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL IN END
MANILA, FEBRUARY 7, 2010 (STAR) By Marvin Sy - Malacañang yesterday told Sen. Panfilo Lacson to raise whatever issues he may have before the Supreme Court (SC), and assured him that he would be afforded due process and his rights would be fully protected should he return home and answer the murder charges against him.Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said Lacson should not be concerned about the issues surrounding the case since it could be legally settled by available judicial remedies, including an appeal before the SC, “which has all the powers to ensure a fair, speedy and just trial.”
Lacson left the country on Jan. 5, saying his escape was to avoid what he called “harassment” by the Arroyo administration.
Secretary to the Cabinet Silvestre Bello III, for his part, said Lacson would have to come back or face the consequences of evading the law.
“You can escape the arms of the law once in a while. You may be good in hiding or finding ways to evade arrest, but in the end, justice will prevail,” Bello said, adding that Lacson does not enjoy any form of immunity notwithstanding his being a lawmaker since the penalty for murder, which is a capital offense, is life imprisonment.
The Manila Regional Trial Court on Friday ordered the arrest of Lacson as the principal accused in the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
Manila RTC Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez issued the warrant for the arrest of Lacson almost a month after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the murder charges against the senator for allegedly masterminding the killing of Dacer and Corbito.
Insinuations
Lacson’s aide Lito Banayo said the senator was ordered arrested to prevent him from campaigning for an opposition presidential candidate.
According to Banayo, Lacson was set to declare his support for Liberal Party candidates Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Sen. Manuel Roxas II last Jan. 18.
Banayo said Lacson had planned to call a press conference to openly declare his support for Aquino and Roxas just before the resumption of session of Congress.
Aside from the administration, Banayo also blamed the camp of Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.
Banayo said recent events would reveal the “unholy alliance” between President Arroyo and Villar. He said the issue of Lacson’s arrest came out as the Senate was set to tackle the Committee of the Whole’s report on the C-5 road controversy involving Villar.
“Every time there is an issue either against the government or Manny Villar, they use another (issue) to put out the fire,” Banayo said over radio station dzXL.
He also revealed “secret meetings” between Mrs. Arroyo and Villar in Spain and Hong Kong, and added that many Lakas-Kampi-CMD local leaders are carrying Villar and not Gilbert Teodoro, the official administration candidate.
Villar, for his part, denied Banayo’s insinuations of being the secret candidate of the administration or that he had a hand in the issuance of the arrest warrant against Lacson.
“I have nothing to do with the (Dacer-Corbito double murder) case. Why should I?” Villar replied.
Former government asset Mary “Rosebud” Ong challenged the senator to be a man and face the charges.
Ong, a former anti-narcotics undercover agent who accused Lacson of involvement in criminal activities, said the senator’s act of leaving the country “is short of raising a white flag as a loser.”
“Duwag ka pala (You are a coward),” she said.
The manhunt begins
Authorities, on the other hand, stepped up their manhunt for Lacson.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) served the arrest warrant for Lacson at his residences in Parañaque City and Imus, Cavite yesterday.
Operatives of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) went to his residence at Kirishima Street, BF Homes Parañaque. The warrant was received by one of Lacson’s household helpers.
The CIDG operatives also searched the senator’s ancestral home in Imus to serve the warrant.
While the CIDG has not received any report that Lacson is trying to sneak in back into the country, all police units nationwide have been alerted to be on the lookout for him.
The CIDG, through the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime, has also started coordinating with the Interpol in over 180 countries to locate Lacson.
The Department of Justice has tasked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to lead the government agencies in serving the warrant on Lacson and coordinate efforts to track down the senator.
The NBI served the warrant at the Senate Friday but no one among the staff of Lacson was present to receive the copy on behalf of the senator.
NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz said they would request Interpol tomorrow to place Lacson on its “Red Notice.”
“If Sen. Lacson would be placed in the Interpol Red Notice, he would no longer be able to leave the country he is already in since the immigration and other authorities there would be alerted,” Diaz explained.
The Interpol said a Red Notice is not considered an “international arrest warrant,” but would only allow arrest warrants issued in local courts to be circulated worldwide.
The notice can be enforced in countries with which the requesting state has an existing extradition treaty, Interpol said.
Tomorrow, the NBI, through its Interpol chief Claro de Castro, would be filing the request at the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC), which will in turn recommend the request to the Interpol main office in France.
Once the Interpol Red Notice is approved, it would send out Red Notices to Interpol member states all over the world. - With Aurea Calica, Christina Mendez, Sandy Araneta, Michael Punongbayan and Mike Frialde
Bello tenders resignation to start campaign (The Philippine Star) Updated February 07, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Secretary to the Cabinet Silvestre Bello III has tendered his resignation to run for senator and start his campaign, the only Cabinet member to do so.
In an interview on Radyo ng Bayan, Bello said his last day in office would be on Tuesday when he would formally say goodbye to his colleagues during the Cabinet meeting.
Bello is running under the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set the start of the campaign period for candidates at the national level on Tuesday.
“My resignation submitted to the President will take effect Feb. 10 because I want to attend the last Cabinet meeting of the President so that I can say my goodbyes and thank the President for the opportunity to serve the country,” Bello said in Filipino.
Technically, he does not have to resign from his post based on a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring that appointive officials do not have to resign after filing their certificates of candidacy.
However, Bello said he felt it was just right for him to resign before going on his campaign because he might not be able to focus on his duties.
“I don’t know if there will be anyone else who will be resigning, but on my part, it is not right for me to go on a campaign, earn a salary from the government and not be able to perform my job,” Bello said.
He said the Cabinet meeting would most likely be held somewhere in the Luzon Urban Beltway as part of the second leg of the President’s tour of the country’s super regions.
This week, the President went to Pampanga, Iloilo, Cebu and Davao for the first leg of her tour, representing the cyber corridor super region.
Several other Cabinet members are running for various posts at the local level, the campaign period of which starts on March 26.
Those vying for seats in the House of Representatives are Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita (Batangas), Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap (Bohol), Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera (Quezon), Presidential Management Staff director general Hermogenes Esperon Jr. (Pangasinan), and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. (Camarines Sur).
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is running for mayor of Iloilo City. – Marvin Sy
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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