NBI ZEROING IN ON PING / GLOBAL MANHUNT ON / PNP SET TO ARREST EX-CHIEF
MANILA, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 (STAR) By Edu Punay - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is zeroing in on fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson.The NBI revealed yesterday that it has received information on the possible whereabouts of Lacson, who is accused of masterminding the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz said information from their counterparts abroad initially established the current location of Lacson.
“But we can’t categorically say that we have pinpointed his exact location. We have just an idea,” Diaz said.
He refused to reveal the initial information gathered by the NBI, saying it would be “tantamount to telegraphing our moves to him.”
Diaz noted Lacson is a trained intelligence officer and former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and is surely monitoring the government’s efforts to locate and arrest him.
“He is not an ordinary person… he used to head the Interpol Manila when he was the PNP director. This means that he knows the way the system works,” Diaz said.
“We are very sure that he is also monitoring us here in the Philippines. He also knows how the cooperation among the Interpol member countries works,” he added.
The NBI is expected to formally ask the International Police today to place Lacson in its “Red Notice” list.
Diaz explained that once Lacson is placed in this list, he will no longer be able to leave the country where he is hiding since the immigration and other authorities in the host country would be alerted.
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.
Once the Interpol Red Notice is approved, it would send out Red Notices to Interpol member states all over the world to flush out Lacson.
Diaz said their initial verification revealed Lacson is not in the United States and Australia.
“His (Lacson’s) Australian visa expired in 2008. His US visa was cancelled because he was named as unindicted co-conspirator in the espionage case involving former police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino and Filipino American Leandro Aragoncillo in the US,” he said.
Lacson left the country on Jan. 5, during the week when the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the double murder charges against the senator.
On Thursday, the Manila Regional Trial Court issued the warrant of arrest for Lacson as the principal accused in the murders.
The NBI leads government law enforcement agencies in trying to locate Lacson.
The NBI had already served the arrest warrants on Lacson at the Senate while the PNP went to the senator’s residence and ancestral home in serving the warrant of arrest.
PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona said they are still coordinating with other government agencies in looking for Lacson, whom he believed might have slipped back into the country using the southern backdoor.
Lacson’s lawyer Alex Avisado, on the other hand, said he would question the issuance of the arrest warrant before the Court of Appeals.
Avisado added they would also question before the CA the denial of their motion to dismiss the case and the prayer to exclude the information for two counts of murder.
Manila RTC Judge Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez denied the motions filed by Lacson’s lawyers seeking to dismiss the case against the senator and defer the issuance of the warrant of arrest.
Fernandez said the court found probable cause for the issuance of the warrant of arrest for Lacson and recommended no bail during the trial.
Avisado argued the testimonies made by Lacson’s former subordinates Cezar Mancao II and Glenn Dumlao are not enough to establish probable cause to implicate the senator in the murders.
Avisado went on to accuse Fernandez of succumbing to government pressure in issuing the warrant of arrest on Lacson.
Avisado suggested Fernandez might have been pressured by Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera to issue the warrant in exchange for approval of her application to be a justice of the Court of Appeals.
“This is an open information, Easily verifiable before the Judicial and Bar Council,” Avisado said.
Expulsion
Former government asset Mary “Rosebud” Ong yesterday urged the expulsion of Lacson from the Senate and the government to immediately put up a bounty for the arrest of the senator.
Ong, who worked as an anti-narcotics civilian agent for Lacson during his term in the PNP, said the government should exert all effort to arrest the senator since he is already considered a fugitive.
“Somebody should initiate an ethics case against Ping (Lacson) before the Senate ethics committee to expel him. That way, Ping can no longer be able to use his clout, his resources as a senator,” she said.
While the government was quick in putting up a bounty for ordinary criminals, Ong argued there should be more effort in securing Lacson since he is a top government official who is accused of a heinous crime.
Considering Lacson is a former PNP chief and a military intelligence officer, Ong said the government should now take more caution.
“The sad part is that he was able to fool a lot of people who even voted him as a senator. They did not know the real Lacson. He should not have been a lawmaker because he is a real lawbreaker,” she added.
Lacson’s lawmaker colleagues in the Senate had called on the senator to come and face the charges to clear his name.
Senate President Juan Ponce said Lacson should just come back and face the charges instead of hiding like a fugitive from the law.
Enrile had assured the Senate would see to it that the rights of Lacson are respected and allow the law to take its course.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. appealed to the public to withhold condemnation of Lacson until after justice is done.
Malacañang said Lacson is entitled to avail of all legal remedies but only if he comes back and face trial.
Malacañang said Lacson could raise whatever issues he may have before the Supreme Court (SC).
Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III and deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar, however, frowned on the advice given by Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan on how Lacson should evade arrest.
Honasan suggested Lacson should use his training as a former military officer and police official in evading arrest, in the same manner Honasan did when he went underground for several months after being implicated in a failed coup in February 2003.
Honasan went as far as suggesting to Lacson to wear disguises.
“Not a good one (advice),” Bello said. “I don’t know if (Honasan) was serious in his advice but the best advice to give to a friend is to advise him to go to court and fight it out and not run away from your problems.”
“If Senator Lacson is innocent, he should face (the charges) and prove his innocence in court,” he said.
Bello and Olivar stressed Lacson still enjoys the constitutional right of presumption of innocence until proven guilty by the court beyond reasonable doubt.
Olivar said Lacson could not defend himself by evading arrest and remaining in hiding.
The two Palace officials denied allegations that Lacson is being persecuted for being a critic of the Arroyo administration.
They said the opposition is just politicizing the issue.
Bello even offered himself to defend Lacson, as he would be resigning from the Cabinet tomorrow to run his campaign as senator under the administration.
“I will be a private citizen starting Tuesday. If he believes he is innocent. He is entitled to legal assistance from attorney Bello,” he said.
Olivar warned against politicizing the issue as those who do might be asked to “take responsibility and answer” for their insinuations before the court.
“Let’s not politicize the case because it will result in injustice. It’s a popular issue but let’s not play with justice. Do not distort it because it might boomerang on you,” Bello added.
Lacson had admitted escaping from the country but stressed that he wanted to avoid “harassment” by the Arroyo administration.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Committee on Public Affairs, said Lacson couldn’t be blamed for leaving the country to evade perceived persecution.
Iniguez said Lacson was trying to make a statement that he cannot achieve fair and just trial of his case under the present administration.
But Iniguez said Lacson has the obligation to come back and submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court.
“If he really loves the country as a civil servant, he should present himself and face the charges against him,” Iniguez said. – With Christina Mendez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero, Helen Flores
GLOBAL MANHUNT FOR PING LACSON ON FROM THE INQUIRER HEADLINES, MANILA, Philippines
REPORTED BY Michael Lim Ubac, Marlon Ramos, Tina Santos Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:41:00 02/07/2010
MANILA, Philippines--The Interpol is seeing red.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson may be arrested on sight in any of the 188 member-countries of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) once he is included in the “red notice” list, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Ricardo Diaz, spokesperson of the NBI and chief of its Counter-Terrorism Division, said the bureau would file on Monday a letter of request to the Interpol to include Lacson in the “red notice” list.
“We’re doing our best to track him down. But based on experience, we will easily get feedback once the subject is on the Interpol red notice list. It will be quick, unless he is stationary in one place,” Diaz said.
The “red notice,” one of seven color-coded lists that the Interpol issues to share information with its members and allow an arrest warrant to be circulated worldwide, requests the provisional arrest of wanted persons, with a view to extradition.
“[It will depend] on the laws of the country where he is spotted ... but in most of the member-countries of the Interpol, he may be arrested on sight,” Claro de Castro Jr., chief of the NBI Interpol Division, said of Lacson.
If there is no extradition treaty with the country where Lacson is staying, the Philippines may request that he be brought or sent back through diplomatic channels, De Castro said, adding:
“Other countries may only alert us about sightings of the subject; others may immediately deport him to the Philippines.”
Diaz said the NBI was coordinating closely with the foreign intelligence community to track Lacson down.
“Senator Lacson surely knows how the cooperation among the Interpol member-countries works. He headed Interpol Manila when he was the chief of the Philippine National Police,” Diaz pointed out.
Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 issued on Friday a warrant for the opposition senator’s arrest in connection with the abduction and murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
‘Harder to blend abroad’
Lacson has admitted leaving the country to evade arrest but said it did not mean he was guilty.
Lawmen on saturday fanned out to Lacson’s known addresses to serve the warrant. On Friday, they took a copy of the warrant to the Senate where a janitor and the officer of the day received it.
Senior Supt. Benito Estipona, operations chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said Lacson might have sneaked back into the country to evade the Interpol.
Said Estipona: “It would be much harder for [Lacson] to blend in other countries.
“Although we have no records of his arrival, we are not discounting the possibility that he has returned.
“Using backdoor entries or other [means] to enter the country is not impossible. Everything is possible.”
House to house
Diaz said NBI agents went to the senator’s house in Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City where a housemaid received the arrest warrant.
“Only two househelp were there when we arrived. They claimed they did not know where the family had gone. But we saw his [Lacson’s] vehicles there,” Diaz said.
He said the NBI proceeded to another known address of Lacson in BF Homes in Parañaque City, but found the house abandoned.
The agents also went to the house of Lacson’s son Ronald, which is about 150 meters from the senator’s house.
“But we found only one househelp there who said she didn’t know where her masters were,” Diaz said, adding that the agents no longer left a copy of the warrant.
Diaz had earlier said Lacson was not in Australia—where he was reportedly staying—or the United States
He said the NBI was not setting a deadline on Lacson’s arrest.
3 tracker teams
Estipona said Lacson’s skills as a former police officer could help him elude authorities.
“In a way, his being a policeman would help him. He could have maintained contacts here and in other countries. But it would be better for him to just surrender to us,” Estipona said.
He said the CIDG had deployed three “tracker teams” to arrest Lacson and sent copies of the senator’s arrest warrant to all CIDG offices.
“We have taken precautionary measures in the event that the senator has come back. We are leaving no stone unturned to locate him,” Estipona said.
He said CIDG agents also visited Lacson’s ancestral home in Imus, Cavite, to no avail.
Echoing Diaz’s remarks on Friday, Estipona said that while the CIDG operatives were aware that Lacson was in hiding, they still had to try to serve the warrant at the senator’s known addresses as a matter of procedure.
“As a law enforcement agency, we are just doing the job that the court asked us to do,” he told the Inquirer.
Dec. 27 sighting
According to immigration records, Lacson flew to Hong Kong on Jan. 5.
But Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada claimed to have seen him in Hong Kong on Dec. 27.
The eldest son of ousted President Joseph Estrada said he saw Lacson strolling with wife Alice at the ground level of the famous Ocean Terminal and shopping center in Tsim Sha Tsui.
He said he and his wife Precy were likewise strolling on the second level.
Despite the bad blood between them, Estrada said he did not hesitate to call Lacson’s attention: “Ping! Ping!” he shouted, using the other man’s nickname.
He said Lacson appeared startled but yelled back: “Who’s with you?”
He said the Lacsons waved and then disappeared in the crowd of holiday shoppers.
“I am saddened by what he’s going through right now,” Estrada told the Inquirer in a phone interview. “I can’t blame him if he doesn’t want to come home.”
According to Estrada, it appears that Lacson returned to the country after their chance encounter.
Once close
Lacson and the Estrada father and son were once close friends but have since become bitter enemies.
On Sept. 14, 2009, Lacson accused them of involvement in the illegal numbers game “jueteng” and other organized crimes during the Estrada presidency.
He claimed in a privilege speech that the former President had also engaged in “arm-twisting” and “smuggling,” prompting the Estradas to call him a “liar.”
Lacson also implicated the ousted President in the Dacer-Corbito murders. At the time, Lacson had yet to be charged with the double-murder case.
It was only on Jan. 7 that the justice department charged Lacson with two counts of murder.
PNP ready to arrest Ping By Cecille Suerte Felipe (The Philippine Star) Updated February 09, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police (PNP) officials yesterday declared they were ready to arrest their former chief, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whom they described as a “fugitive.”
Spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said the PNP is duty-bound to implement the law regardless of the personalities involved.
“No one is above the law. We have to serve (the warrant of arrest for Lacson),” Espina said. “We consider him a fugitive.”
Espina said three tracking teams from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) under Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona have been tasked to go after the senator.
Lacson, who left the country last Jan. 5 for Hong Kong, said his flight was not an indication of guilt but rather to avoid harassment by the Arroyo administration. Lacson served as PNP chief during the short-lived administration of former President Joseph Estrada.
“As law enforcers, we will continue to enforce the law. For a person being charged, this is the most opportune time to surface to clear his name,” Espina added.
Espina said the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime has already coordinated with the International Police (Interpol) to include Lacson in its “Red List” of wanted persons who should be taken into custody and immediately deported.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) joined the mounting calls for Lacson to surrender and face the charges in court.
NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said it would be better for Lacson to come out and face the charges to clear his name.
“Our appeal is for him to surrender and face the charges, so that he would be able to clear his name. If he will not face the charges then this case will always be hanging (on his head),” Mantaring said.
Mantaring told a news conference that the NBI has already requested their counterparts abroad to locate Lacson.
Mantaring wanted Lacson’s lawyer Alex Avisado to convince the senator to surrender.
“If the lawyer would meet with us or if we could send our agents to talk to him, then it would be better,” Mantaring said.
“If we could talk to the lawyer of Sen. Ping Lacson, then maybe we could convince him to surrender Sen. Lacson,” he said.
Mantaring also denied allegations that they were pressured to arrest Lacson.
Avisado earlier claimed the issuance of the warrant of arrest against Lacson came about because of the pressure exerted by the government.
Avisado said Manila regional trial court judge Myra Fernandez was pressured to issue the warrant in exchange for the approval of her application as justice of the Court of Appeals.
Malacañang, on the other hand, said Avisado’s statement was an insult to the judge’s integrity.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said the allegations made by Avisado were nothing but a slur on Fernandez.
Olivar said the claims were without basis and totally unrelated to the case.
Olivar stressed Malacañang has no interest in the case but just wanted to advise the critics of the administration to spare the judge.
Set an example
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, for his part, reiterated his appeal to Lacson to come out of hiding and face the charges.
He said Lacson should be a role model for the Filipino nation as a law-abiding citizen, being a lawmaker himself.
Enrile dared Lacson to face the charges and set an example on how one should submit to the legal processes amid the controversies over the case.
Enrile said he was in the same situation when he was arrested and charged during the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino in 1990 and implicated in the so-called EDSA uprising during the early months of the administration of President Arroyo in 2001.
“Though already elected as senator, everybody knows how I was harassed and prosecuted under the Aquino administration that charged me of multiple rebellion. But I did not hide. Instead I faced all the charges before our courts. I was jailed in both these accusations under the Aquino and Arroyo terms,” Enrile said.
“In the end, I was acquitted from all the charges, acquittals which were both affirmed by no less than the Supreme Court itself,” he said.
Enrile expressed belief that Lacson would be eventually acquitted of the charges.
Enrile said that as a lawyer, he is confident of Lacson’s innocence and is even willing to handle the case.
“If I am not a senator... I am willing to handle his case... based on the evidence presented to me by Senator Lacson, on a scale of one to 10, at least an eight, I can acquit him,” he said.
Enrile said that even if Lacson is arrested and detained, he would continue to function as a senator, like detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is charged for the failed coup attempt in 2003.
Hiding here?
Mantaring, on the other hand, confirmed the statements made by NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz of the initial reports on Lacson’s possible whereabouts.
He said the NBI received several leads but they are cross checking all the details to ascertain where the senator could be hiding.
“I think (Lacson) does not have a visa in the United States. His visa in the US was cancelled. And he has no valid visa in Australia, although we initially had information that he was in Australia, but he is not in Australia because he has no valid visa there. We already requested the assistance of our counterparts, police attaché of other countries. They are helping us in locating his whereabouts,” he said.
Mantaring pointed out the possibility of a false lead meant to mislead the authorities.
“But you could not just take it lightly so we have to verify,” he said.
Mantaring said they have already asked Hong Kong immigration for information regarding the arrival of Lacson.
Mantaring denied reports that Lacson is hiding in the country and has taken refuge somewhere in Mindanao.
He said the NBI has no information that Lacson is already in the country.
“No information that he is being coddled. If he is abroad, we have no jurisdiction over this,” he said.
Immigration Airport Operation Division chief Ferdinand Sampol also denied reports that Lacson had already come back.
Sampol said they received no reports from other airports regarding the supposed arrival of Lacson. - With Cet Dematera, Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Rudy Santos
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2010 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved