PNS — THE Court of Appeals on Thursday dismissed the criminal complaints filed against Senator Panfilo Lacson in connection with his alleged role in the killing of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
Analysts said that could pave the way for the return of Lacson, who has been in hiding for more than a year to evade arrest on murder charges.
The appellate court’s Sixth Division granted Lacson’s petition to reject the findings of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 that found probable cause to issue an arrest warrant on the senator on Feb. 4, 2010.
The appeals court said that former police officer Cezar Mancao “is not [a] credible and trustworthy” witness of the prosecution.
“Inconsistencies and material contradiction affect the credibility of Cezar Mancao and the veracity of his statements….” the court said.
The appeals court said that in Mancao’s counter-affidavit dated June 21, 2001, and in his affidavit dated March 1, 2007, the police officer never implicated Lacson in the so-called “special operations” to kidnap and murder Dacer and his driver.
In another counter-affidavit dated June 29, 2001, Mancao even denied meeting former police officer Michael Ray Aquino, Lacson’s trusted aide when he was head of the National Police.
But in his affidavit executed on Feb. 13, 2009, the appeals court noted that Mancao contradicted himself when he declared that he had learned about the special operations from his subordinates, and that he, together with former police officer Glenn Dumlao, went to Aquino’s office to inquire about it.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima declined to issue a statement on the new developments on the case against Lacson, saying she had yet to read the appellate court’s ruling.