NBI WANTED POSTERS FOR PING UP / NOYNOY, PIMENTEL SLAM
WANTED POSTERS
[PHOTO
AT LEFT -
Not Campaign Materials: Wanted posters of Sen. Ping Lacson, the subject
of a manhunt for the Dacer-Corbito slays, are displayed along Roxas Boulevard
yesterday. Edd Gumban]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 (STAR) By Sandy Araneta - One of the daughters of slain publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer yesterday spoke out about Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s escape.
Karina Dacer said Lacson’s escape to evade arrest was expected.
“When the news came out that Sen. Lacson left for Hong Kong last Jan. 5, just days before the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the filing of murder charges against him for my father’s and (driver) Emmanuel (Corbito)’s murders, I was not surprised,” she said in a statement read by her lawyer Demetrio Custodio.
Karina said she initially dismissed the reports of Lacson escaping, noting the statements of his lawyers that he was just around.
But in the past week, she found out that Lacson’s lawyers are lying and trying to cover up for the senator.
“For our family, (Lacson’s escape) was puzzling because he was given all the remedies in court and he had all the opportunities to respond. He had the Senate floor which he used last year to tell the world that he has information on a number of issues and personalities,” she said.
The Manila Regional Trial Court last week ordered the arrest of Lacson as the principal accused in the murders of Dacer and Corbito in November 2000.
Manila RTC Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez issued the warrant for the arrest of Lacson about a month after the DOJ filed the murder charges against the senator for allegedly masterminding the killing of Dacer and Corbito.
Lacson released a statement admitting his escape from the country to avoid what he called “harassment” by the Arroyo administration.
Karina said Lacson should have taken the opportunity to face the courts to deny his involvement in the murders.
Karina said Lacson used the media and the Senate and yet refused to appear before the court to clear his name.
“It is indeed very puzzling,” she said.
“Our family has the following message to the senator. In your privilege speeches, you talked about a lot of exposés related to other people and they had no opportunity to respond. Yet you were given all the remedies and opportunities the judicial system can give you but you decided to flee. Your reason for fleeing the country is that you fear for your life.
“The former head of police and a senator fearing for his life? It was indeed very surprising.”
Karina called on Lacson to come out and answer the charges in court and not hide behind the excuse of political persecution.
“Please stop hiding behind the now tiring reason that the case against you is a politically motivated persecution or that the administration has a plot to harass and harm you,” Karina said.
“This case is not about you. This case is about the lives of two people that were taken. This case is about all the lives destroyed by the murder of my father and Emmanuel. This case is not about you or your politics!” Karina said.
Karina also dared Lacson to prove that he was not involved in the murders.
She said Lacson did not even take the initiative to reach out to their family following the murders.
“If you really wanted to help, you would have found a way. Last year you finally wanted to sit down and talk to us. Why the change of heart? Was your move also politically motivated? Your fleeing the country is an insult to our judicial system and to all branches of the government,” she said.
In the same statement, Karina urged the next president to hold Lacson accountable for his actions.
She said Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Richard Gordon have both suffered the loss of their fathers in a brutal manner.
To former President Joseph Estrada, Karina said, “Please stop telling the world how close our families are because as you very well know, our families are not close.”
She said if their families were close, Estrada would have helped them immediately when their father was abducted in 2000.
“Yet, to this day, you have offered no information or assistance. If you really were close to our father, give us the information that will give justice for his death,” Karina told Estrada.
Karina also lashed out at politicians justifying the flight of Lacson.
“I can only say that your sadness cannot compare to the sadness we felt when our father was mercilessly strangled and burned in Cavite. You have no idea how much our lives were destroyed. You have no idea what sadness is,” she said.
Most wanted
Custodio read Karina’s statement during a news conference of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) which launched a wanted campaign against Lacson.
In a bid to put more pressure on Lacson, the VACC distributed wanted posters with photos of the senator and the captions “Wanted: Panfilo Lacson, Criminal Case 10-272905-06” and “Double Murder Case.”
Custodio joined the group in putting up the posters on trees, lampposts and walls along Roxas Boulevard, particularly near the Grand Boulevard Hotel where casino video operator Edgar Bentain was kidnapped in 1999.
Jimenez said Lacson was also behind the disappearance of Bentain.
“First, the arrest of Sen. Lacson should be made swiftly and soon. Authorities should step up their manhunt. I do not believe politics had anything to do with the impending arrest of the senator. It is simply justice catching up with him at last,” Jimenez said.
Authorities began the global manhunt for Lacson soon after the senator fled.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has requested the International Police (Interpol) to place Lacson under its Red Notice list, which would prevent Lacson from leaving the country where he is now hiding since immigration and other authorities in the host country would be alerted.
NBI Interpol chief Claro de Castro said they are awaiting the approval of their red notice request in France.
When asked about the possibility that Lacson may have returned through the country’s backdoor, De Castro said the NBI is still checking this out.
“We are not discounting the possibility,” De Castro said. – With Michael Punongbayan, Artemio Dumlao, Eva Visperas
Senators slam wanted posters of Ping By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated February 11, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Benigno Aquino III said the government must stop the persecution of Sen. Panfilo Lacson and deal with him in accordance with the law.
“Wanted posters, especially those with ‘dead or alive’ are fashionable among cowboys in the US wild, wild west during the 19th century. This should be reconsidered and (the government should) run after Lacson the usual way,” Pimentel said.
Aquino said Lacson and his supporters could not be blamed for crying persecution because of the way he was being treated.
He said people like Lacson and national broadband network scam witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. are being charged and detained after their many exposés against the Arroyo government, while former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, who was implicated in the fertilizer fund anomaly, and resigned Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, who was also implicated in the broadband network deal, are out of jail despite their alleged involvement in government anomalies.
Lacson left the country before a warrant of arrest was issued against him in connection with the double murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.
Lacson said he could not risk life and security in the hands of the Arroyo government.
Aquino said he could not blame Lacson if he would not trust the justice system under the Arroyo administration.
He said the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of plunder charges against Bolante for allegedly diverting fertilizer funds for the campaign of Mrs. Arroyo in the 2004 polls. Bolante has not yet been charged in court and is even running for governor of Capiz, his home province, reportedly under the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.
The Blue Ribbon Committee also accused Abalos and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of involvement in the anomalous national broadband network deal. The panel said Mrs. Arroyo must also be further investigated for her involvement in the deal after the end of her term, citing her immunity from suit while in office.
NBI approves wanted posters
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that there is nothing wrong in posting the “Wanted” posters with photographs of the fugitive senator after a Manila court had issued a warrant of arrest against Lacson.
Government agents have launched a manhunt for Lacson.
Lawyer Edward Villarta, chief of the NBI National Capital Region (NCR), said the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) put up the posters as a way to dare Lacson to surrender and face the charges.
Villarta, who is also NBI spokesman, said the photos of Lacson can also be published in newspapers without violating any law.
VACC president Dante Jimenez and Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II, led last Tuesday the putting up of posters with Lacson’s photos with the word “Wanted” and “Crim. Case 10-272905-06 (Double Murder Case).”
Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 issued a warrant of arrest against Lacson last Friday or about a month after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the double murder charges against him. Bureau of Immigration records showed that Lacson went to Hong Kong last Jan. 5.
Raps against Erap withheld
The relatives of Dacer have withheld the filing of charges against former President Joseph Estrada, who was also implicated in the double murder by Mancao.
Demetrio Custodio, lawyer of the Dacers, said his clients had already signed the complaint against Estrada in October last year but recently told him not to file it with the DOJ just yet.
“We’ve been ready with that (complaint against Estrada) since last year and I’m merely waiting for their instruction for me to file. But they (clients) said they’re still considering it,” he told The STAR.
In an earlier television interview, Dacer’s daughter Carina was quoted as saying that they were hoping that Lacson would face the charges in court and reveal what he knows, including the alleged involvement of a former top government official.
A source said the Dacers were advised not to file the complaint yet against Estrada, who is running for president.
“It’s not good to file right now because Erap will claim persecution to derail his campaign. He will have something to blame for his loss,” the source said.
Custodio said the Dacer sisters Carina, Sabina Dacer-Reyes, Emily Dacer-Hungerford and Amparo Dacer-Henson signed the complaint against Estrada before the Philippine consuls general in New York and California in the US where the siblings are now based.
The lawyer refused to discuss details of the complaint before it is filed at the DOJ.
He, however, revealed that the complaint against Estrada was based on the testimony of Mancao at the trial.
“There was clear indication in Mancao’s testimony in court of President Estrada’s involvement in the case,” Custodio explained.
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 said Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, gave the order “to get rid” of Dacer and that he was “directly getting orders from Malacañang.”
Mancao 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, hoping to finally uncover the mastermind in the killings. – With Edu Punay, Sandy Araneta