Ex-PNP officer tagged in Dacer ‘hit’

[Monseratto]

With 2 former ranking PNP officers due to be "deported" from the US to face the music, the revival of the Dacer-Corbito murder case will push a presidentiable Panfilo Lacson back in the limelight. A ex-PNP Chief with a lot of skeletons in the closet, Lacson is busy with his media blitz in trying to put a political spin into this case. He even enlisted the help of some Civil Society groups, saying Malacanang was trying to dampen his anti-corruption crusade. Many view the senate inquiries into corruption in the executive branch more "in aid of television" than anything else. Nobody can deny that Lacson is gunning for a second run at the highest office of the land, but what dark secrets that he intends to keep hidden is very worrisome.

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) A former police officer was one of two persons who talked about a “hit” on a certain “Delta” and “Bero,” Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez disclosed Monday.

Quoting an affidavit from another suspect in the murders publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, Gonzalez identified the former officer as Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino.

In his affidavit, Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao was said to have mentioned a conversation between Aquino and another individual who was allegedly giving the order to take care of “Delta,” referring to Dacer, and “Bero,” referring to former police intelligence chief Reynaldo Berroya.

“That [exchange] appears in the affidavit that I have. It even appears in the e-mails,” said Gonzalez, referring to those sent by Mancao’s wife, Maricar.

“Yes, it was Aquino,” Gonzalez said in response to questions about the identity of the person talking to the one giving orders.

But he refused to confirm whether the person giving the order was Senator Panfilo Lacson.

At the same time, Gonzalez said the affidavit he has with him, which is kept in a bank vault, is not the same as the one cited in a newspaper report, which alleged names Lacson as the mastermind.

“That was not the affidavit that I have,” Gonzalez said.

The details quoted in the report, Gonzalez said, are from an affidavit executed March of 2007 by Mancao in which he details the meetings in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami on alleged plans to dig up dirt on First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

The same affidavit also mentioned Lacson telling both Mancao and Michael Ray Aquino to leave the Philippines because the Arroyo administration could be expected to go after them for the Dacer-Corbitor murders.

However, the affidavit cited in the report is supposedly dated February 14, Gonzalez said, while the one he has is more recent.

Meanwhile, civil society groups have been challenging Gonzalez to make the Mancao affidavit public.

“Why does not this administration finally release it [affidavit] to shed light on this latest controversy?” former transportation secretary Josefina Lichauco said.

However, Gonzalez maintained he cannot make the affidavit public until and unless Mancao testifies in court.

“What if he refused to testify? What if he suddenly changes his testimony?” he said.

[architect]

Just curious. I have been trying to follow the developing story. While several individuals are now implicating Lacson, I have yet to read on the motive. In implicating Lacson, Berroya also cleared Lacson's boss at that time - President Estrada.

What then would Lacson's motive be in ordering the hit? Does anyone know?

[Monseratto]

Only a dumb person could be behind it...

Dacer murder case: Who has the motive?
By Aries C. Rufo, abs-cbnNEWs.com


First of two parts

A month before public relations man Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito went missing in Nov. 24, 2000, the publicist wrote close friend, retired Gen. Jose Almonte, about threats to his life.

In that letter, published by Newsbreak in Jan. 2001, Dacer told Almonte that he wrote “instead of calling (Almonte) to avoid being recorded by General (Panfilo) Lacson and President Estrada.” At that time, the impeachment complaint against Estrada had just been filed at the House of Representatives.

Dacer said he had been warned by concerned friends “that President Estrada has tagged me as the field officer in the alleged destabilization campaign against the administration.” A Manila police officer, he said, even suggested a safehouse. “While I appreciate all these concerns, I politely declined any offer of safehouses.”

Dacer also gave Almonte updates on the political situation at that time: “the decision of (then) Rep. Alan Cayetano to bolt Lamp (Estrada’s coalition party) and the refusal of Bong Revilla (then Cavite governor now senator) to sign the endorsement of support for Erap (Estrada).”

He also told Almonte that there was no truth to the move of (then Paranaque mayor) Joey Marquez to bolt Lakas. “He denied it. FVR (Ramos) called last night 3 times and made several requests.”

Based on the letter, it appeared that Dacer was working for Ramos—at a time when he was supposedly helping Estrada deal with his political problems. Dacer had previously worked as Ramos’s image maker and when Estrada came to power, he made a seamless transition.

But then, even when working as Estrada’s PR man, the relationship between Dacer and his high-profile client was turbulent. In a series of letters to Estrada and Almonte in 1999, Dacer referred to intrigues being sown by others “aimed at driving a wedge” between him and the troubled President.

Dacer was particular with Lacson as his primary suspect.

In one letter to Estrada dated June 9, 1999, Dacer named several individuals who were behind the demolition job against him. One of them, Dacer said, was Lacson who was then angling for the top post in the national police.

In a letter to Almonte dated July 27, 1999, Dacer was unequivocal in naming Lacson as manipulating Estrada’s mind. “The President’s most trusted aide, his top intelligence man, is the one responsible in needlessly alarming his Excellency. Gen. Lacson is also feeding him disinformation in other very critical areas.” In this letter, Dacer discussed the “mystery” behind Estrada’s insistence that some opposition leaders, including Dacer, were involved in undermining Estrada’s government.

Apparently, “Gen. Lacson’s malicious and evil plan almost worked,” Dacer reported. He noted that Estrada would always confront him that he, Almonte and Ramos, were behind the destabilization plot.

Lacson is ‘hidden hand’

In another letter to Estrada dated Oct. 8, 1999, Dacer tagged Lacson as “the hidden hand” behind the negative publicity against then Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno. “The campaign against Puno was part of General Lacson’s grand design to wrest control of both the DILG and the PNP. Doing so would make him one of the most powerful men in the nation,” Dacer warned.

Dacer cautioned Estrada against appointing Lacson as chief of the Philippine National Police, saying that his appointment could turn the country into a police state. “I too, have direct experience with Gen. Lacson’s willingness to use any means, including foul, to advance his interests,” Dacer said.

Dacer indicated he was more in favor of then National Capital Region Police Office chief Reynaldo Wycoco. But Estrada did not pay heed, appointing Lacson the following month as PNP Director-General.

A year later, Dacer and Corbito disappeared, their charred remains found in Cavite.

Based on court records, it is undisputed that it was PAOCTF which abducted Dacer and Corbito. What the defense panel is merely disputing was that some officials were not involved and that there was no conspiracy to execute the crime.

Dumlao’s affidavit

Still, from whom did they get the order to snatch and liquidate Dacer and why?

According to Dumlao, the special operation on Dacer’s movement was revived in Oct. 2000. Clueless on the nature of the operation, Dumlao said Mancao confronted Aquino and asked what it was all about. “Kay kuwan yan Sir… Dacer. Ok na yan sa Malacanang, pnag-usapan na yan.” Pressed if Lacson was aware of it, Aquino allegedly said: “Sila na daw ang bahala sa kanya.”

On orders of Aquino, Dumlao said Aquino tasked him to interrogate Dacer on two issues: Dacer’s conversation with President Estrada and what the opposition was planning, Ramos and Almonte in particular.

Dacer was kidnapped while on his way to a meeting with Ramos. Reportedly, he carried with him some documents that could further implicate Estrada to a scandal.

The documents were mentioned in Dumlao’s first affidavit which Aquino reportedly ordered Dumlao to secure. Dumlao later burned the documents.

BW scandal

What were the documents?

Dumlao did not state what the documents were. But one high-ranking police official told us in 2001 that it could have something to do with the 2000 BW stock manipulation scandal, one of the issues that helped topple Estrada’s presidency.

Unknown to many, Dacer had worked as Dante Tan’s “crisis PR” when the BW scandal broke out. However, based on his letter dated March 15, 2000 to Tan, Dacer severed the relationship over professional matters.

One version of the story known to a small circle of PNP officials during Estrada’s time was that at the height of anti-Estrada protests in 2000, Dacer went to Estrada in Malacanang to show him documents that would further implicate him in the BW insider trading. Estrada reportedly made millions of pesos from the stock manipulation of BW Resources, a firm controlled by crony Dante Tan.

In that meeting, Dacer supposedly told Estrada that the political opposition was already aware of the existence of those documents and was after the evidence.

Dacer said he would withhold the documents if Estrada in exchange for some consideraion. As per the source’s account, Estrada got peeved. When Dacer left the meeting, Estrada gestured toward Dacer’s direction.

Could this be the conversation that Dumlao was tasked to ask Dacer and that the documents he disposed of were related to BW?

Next: Twists and turns of the Dacer murder case

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03...who-has-motive

[Monseratto]

Someone is delaying Dumlao's return from the Philippines. Ping must be walking in circles...

Honasan to Lacson: Submit to rule of law

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Gregorio Honasan on Thursday advised fellow lawmaker Panfilo Lacson to submit himself to the rule of law after being linked to the disappearance and killing of publicist Slavador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

“Submit [yourself] to the rule of law as I did. Now I am back in the Senate," Honasan said in a weekly forum in the Senate when asked for his advice to Lacson, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.

Honasan, a classmate of Lacson in the Philippine Military Academy Batch ‘71, said his “mistah" should go through due process to prove his innocence in the Dacer-Corbito twin killings in 2000.

“Let the evidence be presented. Let the prosecution present its case and the defense defend whoever is indicted," said Honasan.

On Lacson’s claim that he was a subject of a vilification campaign by the government, Honasan said the claim and counter-claims should be resolved in court and the matter should not be subjected to a trial and conviction by publicity.

“The probable cause has to be determined by the court," Honasan said.

Lacson has long been linked to the twin killings because he used to head the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, where the three police officers suspected of perpetrating the crime belonged.

In his affidavit, former Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, one of the three suspects who fled to the United States after the killing, was supposed to have divulged everything that he knew about the crime, including the names of those who masterminded it.

A copy of the controversial affidavit is already in the hands of the Dacer camp and the Department of Justice. The DOJ has insisted on keeping the details of Mancao’s affidavit secret until he is back in the country.

A second suspect in the crime, former Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, is scheduled to arrive in the country from the United States on Sunday.

Fearing for his life, Dumlao – who did not contest the extradition case filed against him by the Philippine government before a US court – has requested that he be protected by a bullet proof vest upon his return. The former police official also said that the media should be allowed to cover his arrival. - Amita Legaspi and Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/153349/H...to-rule-of-law

Hehehe...natatakot sila matulad kay Ninoy si Dumlao.