Fugitive ex-cop held, NBI’s US sources say; bureau checking

Posted 04:26pm (Mla time) Mar 16, 2005
By Joel Francis Guinto, Margaux Ortiz
INQ7.net, Inquirer News Service



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(UPDATE) FUGITIVE and former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino was arrested in New York City for an alleged immigration law violation, National Bureau of Investigation’s Interpol chief Ricardo Diaz said Wednesday, quoting “competent sources” in the US.

"We still do not know for what reason, but competent sources in the United States said Aquino was nabbed by US law enforcers for what could possibly have been a violation of their immigration laws," Diaz said in an interview with reporters.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco, in a text message, and Diaz, in a separate interview with INQ7.net, said they have yet to confirm the report on Aquino’s arrest.

"I think they (New York police) are trying to deport him," Diaz added.

In an earlier radio interview on Wednesday, Diaz said Aquino was arrested for allegedly possessing an expired passport.

Aquino and former police superintendent Cesar Mancao were charged with the double murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?in...&story_id=30710

2 ex-PNP officers in Dacer murder case arrested in US
11/21/2008 | 12:36 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Two former Philippine National Police officers linked to the killing of PR man Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000 were arrested in the United States Thursday night, a justice department official said Friday.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said former superintendent Cezar Mancao II is now detained in Florida while former senior superintendent Glenn Dumlao is detained in New York.

"Ang DOJ gumawa ng extradition request sa US DOJ, inaprubahan ng US DOJ. Kagabi picked up ang dalawa by virtue of extradition (Both have outstanding arrest warrants. The Philippine justice department made an extradition request to its US counterpart, which approved the request. The two were picked up Thursday night by virtue of the extradition)," Blancaflor said in an interview on dzBB radio.

Mancao and Dumlao were with the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) headed by Senator Panfilo Lacson, then a police general. Lacson subsequently became PNP chief.

Dacer and Corbito went missing in November 2000.

A Toyota Revo vehicle belonging to Dacer was found abandoned in a ravine in Cavite a few days after his disappearance.

Records of the case showed that in 2001, Mancao and another officer, former Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, fled the country after Dumlao implicated them as organizers in the murders.

For still unexplained reasons, Dumlao subsequently disappeared and later surfaced in the United States.

In March 2005, Aquino was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for espionage. He is now serving time in a US prison for the offense.

Blancaflor said he is still not sure when Mancao and Dumlao will be brought to the Philippines since they can still avail of their legal rights.

"Maaring mag-oppose sila, baka meron silang pending warrant. 'Pag walang kaso sila doon ide-deport sila sa Pilipinas (They have the right to oppose, or they may have pending warrants for offenses in the US. If those are cleared, they will be deported to the Philippines),"
he said.

Upon their arrival, he said the two will be turned over to Philippine authorities.


Background of the case

The motive behind Dacer’s killing remains unclear but former President Fidel Ramos was reported then by media blaming his successor, former President Joseph Estrada, who was said to have suspected that Dacer was helping Ramos destabilize his administration.

Lacson was also suspected of having a hand in Dacer’s murder, being the direct head of the three officers.

Dacer’s daughter Amparo had told investigators that Lacson had a personal reason to eliminate her father, who had worked for then PNP chief Roberto Lastimoso, a known rival of Lacson.

In his blogspot, Rodel E. Rodis, a Filipino lawyer in San Francisco, California, wrote that before the sentencing of Aquino on July 18, 2007, to six years and four months in prison by US Judge William Walls in New Jersey for espionage, US Attorney Christopher J. Christie submitted a 92-page memorandum asking for a higher sentence for Aquino because of “Aquino’s involvement in the abduction and murders of Dacer and Corbito."

Rodis said the memorandum noted that Dumlao was contacted by Christie during the government’s investigation of Aquino and in an interview in 2006 in New Jersey with his lawyer Felix Vinluan present, "Dumlao affirmed that Aquino participated in the abduction of Dacer-Corbito by directing him and others to kidnap and interrogate Dacer and Corbito, and destroy evidence of the crime."

Rodis also quoted the memorandum as saying, "Mancao voluntarily submitted to several interviews with the (US) government (in the presence of his attorney, Michael Schutt). During those interviews, Mancao told the government, among other things, that he believed that Aquino was involved in the abductions of Dacer and Corbito because Aquino told him that he had ordered others to hide evidence of the crimes."

“Mancao affirmed that he and Aquino ‘heard’ from Lacson that they would be arrested ‘in an effort to destroy Lacson’s reputation and negatively affect Lacson’s possible chances of a presidential bid in 2004’…Lacson later directed Aquino and Mancao to leave the country."

Estrada and Lacson have both vehemently denied the charges. - Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/134877/2-ex-PN...-arrested-in-US

Berroya tags Ping, absolves Estrada

MANILA, Philippines - Former police intelligence chief Reynaldo Berroya named Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday as among the principal suspects in the Dacer-Corbito murder case, but absolved former President Joseph Estrada of any involvement in the killings eight years ago.
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Berroya said three people were named by former police senior superintendent Glenn Dumlao in the murders, and Lacson is one of them.

“The only names mentioned were Sen. Panfilo Lacson and (former police senior superintendents) Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao,” Berroya told radio station dzMM.

Berroya said Dumlao, an operative of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) that was headed by Lacson at the time of the murders, did not mention any high-ranking government official in his handwritten affidavit submitted to the police intelligence group several years ago.

In a separate interview with ANC, Berroya vouched for Estrada, saying it is not in the former president’s character to order somebody killed.

Berroya headed the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) that initially investigated the disappearances of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Berroya, now assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), has volunteered to testify in the reinvestigation of the twin murders.

Estrada has repeatedly denied involvement in Dacer’s killing. He said he would not order a “kumpadre” or close friend killed.

“I am the godfather of one of his (Dacer’s) daughters. We have been close friends. This (effort of linking me to the murders) is a handiwork of a demolition think tank,” Estrada said.

Estrada later thanked Berroya for expressing “good words” for him.

Estrada said he and Berroya are also “kumpadres” and what transpired between them in the past was a “little misunderstanding.”

“I thank him for the good words that he has for me. Although I haven’t seen him yet, which is true, it is not in our character to have somebody killed,” he said.

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Lacson: Mancao assured his loyalty to me

MANILA, Philippines – Former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II assured opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson of his loyalty in a text message he supposedly sent to the senator in 2008.

In a report on QTV’s Balitanghali, GMA News’ Claire Delfin on Monday said Lacson’s lawyers bared Mancao’s text message indicating that he will refuse any possible offer in exchange for implicating Lacson to the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

“Ur ryt [you’re right] sir…I was hoping I can contribute something 2 propel u [to propel you] at the end. Rest assured of my loyalty. I will desist the tempttn [temptation]. Sleep soundly sir," states the text message Mancao supposedly sent to Lacson on Jan.4, 2008

The “temptation" was supposedly the offer of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) chief Major General Romeo Prestoza to reinstate and promote Mancao if he would implicate Lacson in the abduction and killing Dacer and Corbito in 2000.

GMA News tried but failed to contact Prestoza for comment.

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it seems to me that lacson is trying too hard to say that he is not guilty. if he is not then why worry. masyadong defensive e. if mancao indeed said he will be loyal to lacson they no need for lacson to broadcast it , just wait for the court hearing to present his defense. but thats me. iba iba siguro ang tao

Seems to me that no matter how much people want to professionalize PNP there are vindictive people who take the law into their own hands. Some people commend Lacson for liquidating the whole members of a kidnapping for ransom gang. I try to visualize myseelf a victim. Naghihinakit ako at puno ng poot. (I felt bitter and full of hatred)

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/164008/Mancao-...-mixed-emotions