PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — GOVERNMENT investigators will utilize former police officers Cesar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao in solving, besides the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, the Kuratong Baleleng rubout and the mysterious disappearance of a casino employee in 1998.
Tight security has been clamped around Mancao who has expressed fears for his and his family’s safety.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said the looming probe into the abduction-slaying of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito may pave the way for the resolution of the two equally celebrated cases.
The Kuratong Baleleng case is still pending before the Supreme Court, while the case of former PAGCOR employee Edgardo Bentain has been gathering dust.
Bentain was suspected of being the source of a video tape showing then Vice President Estrada playing cards in a VIP room at one of the casinos.
The videotape was handed to Manuel “Manoling” Morato, Estrada’s political nemesis, during the 1998 presidential campaign.
Mancao is now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation after being extradited from the United States. His “kumpadre” Dumlao is also coming home soon after executing a deposition in the case involving another police officer, Michael Ray Aquino.
Mancao intimated to an NBI official his fear of retaliation from “persons whom he linked” in his affidavit to the celebrated abduction-slaying of Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito.
Ric Diaz, head of the NBI-Anti-Terrorism Division, and one of the two NBI officials who fetched Mancao from the US, revealed Mancao’s concern during a press briefing at the bureau’s compound in Manila.
While government is seriously mulling to utilize him as witness, NBI Director Nestor Manta-ring said Mancao is tecnically still an accused in the Dacer-Corbito case. “He has a warrant of arrest in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case,” said the NBI director.
“He is very cooperative and not a high risk accused. But still he has threats against his life so we provided him elaborate security,” Diaz said.
Mancao’s mother, Reynalda, arrived at the NBI to see her controversial son. “The meeting was very touching and Reynalda, who had not met him for several years, hugged her son tightly. Other relatives also arrived at the bureau,” the NBI official said.
Also, Mancao will undergo the usual quarantine process to screen him for possible A-HINI infection.
Mancao executed an affidavit on February 14, 2009 in Florida detaling his knowlege of the twin murders. Sources said he implicated Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada as masterminds.