PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — THE daughters of Salvador “Bubby” Dacer yesterday charged Sen. Panfilo Lacson with the kidnapping and murder of the public relations man and his driver Emmanuel Corbito before the Department of Justice.
The complaint was formally lodged by the Ongkiko Manhit Custodia & Acorda Law Office in behalf of the four US-based daughters of Dacer – Carina, Sabina, Emily and Amparo.
”We are filing the complaint in view of the recent development where former Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II, one of the accused in Criminal Case No. 01-1911969, entitled People vs. Michael Ray Aquino, et al, now pending before Branch 18 of the Regional Trial Court 18 had executed an affidavit last Feb. 13, 2009, an affidavit disclosing his knowledge as to the participation of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in the Dacer-(Emmanuel) Corbito double murder case,” the law firm said.
The affidavit Dacer’s daughters were referring to was Mancao’s latest sworn statement detailing the murder and the identities of the masterminds.
In his February 13, 2009 affidavit, Mancao positively said that Lacson ordered Aquino and other PAOCTF members to liquidate former Philippine National Police Supt. Reynaldo Berroya, the senator’s known nemesis, in October 2000.
”Aquino responded to Lacson that he intends to neutralize or liquidate Delta (Dacer) first because Erap (former president Joseph Estrada) was already peeved at him,” Mancao further said.
With the affidavit of Mancao, the Dacer daughters are convinced that Lacson masterminded the death of their father and his driver.
“It is clear from the afore-quoted paragraph that Sen. Lacson ordered the killing of our father… Moreover, it is apparent from Mr. Mancao’s affidavit that PAOCTF, which Sen. Lacson headed, conducted ‘special operations’ i.e operations that did not follow the normal channels of command and did not come under the purview of the (PAOCTF’s) mandate,” the 10-page complaint affidavit read.
The complaint also noted the complicity of Lacson in the twin murders when he appointed Mancao as the head of the team tasked to investigate the case so that the crime could be covered up.
The Dacer sisters also stated that Lacson’s guilt is further attested to by his order to Mancao and Aquino to leave the country shortly after the remains of Dacer and Corbito were discovered in April of 2001.
“Sen. Lacson even consistently met with Mr. Mancao and Mr. Aquino in the United States from October 2001 to September 2003 and provided for them.
This makes Sen. Lacson criminally liable for violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1829 , Section 1 (harboring, concealing and facilitating the escape of any person he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect, has committed any offense under existing penal laws),” they said.
The slain publicist’s daughters also added that Lacson had an axe to grind against their father as the latter strongly opposed the former’s appointment as head of the national police force.
The daughters further claimed that prior to his abduction their father supposedly told them that if anything happened to him, “there should be no one to blame but Sen. Lacson.”
“Based on the foregoing, and considering further that a new personality has been implicated in the murder of our father and Mr. Corbito, it is apparent that there is a need for a reopening and reinvestigation in order to determine whether probable cause exists to hold Lacson liable,” they said.