Erap, Lacson wash hands off Dacer-Corbito murders | ABS-CBN News Online Beta
Former president Joseph Estrada and Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Friday denied allegations made by former police superintendent Cesar Mancao, linking them to the murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.
"Bubby Dacer is a good friend of mine, my compadre... The day before he was abducted he was in Malacañang having merienda with me," Estrada said in an interview with ANC.
Estrada reiterated that it is not in his character to order the killing of somebody, much more of a compadre. He said he is confident that in the end, the truth will prevail.
Lacson, meanwhile, said he had "absolutely nothing to do" with Dacer's murder. He said if ever newspaper reports about Mancao's supposed February 14 affidavit were true, he will not try to escape and face "head on" whatever case will be filed against him by the government.
"I will face this. I'm confident that the truth will prevail. I will not escape. I will face this head on because I have absolutely nothing to do with the Dacer-Corbito case," Lacson told radio dzMM.
Estrada was president while Lacson was the concurrent head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) when Dacer and his driver were abducted and murdered in November 2000.
Lacson believes Mancao was pressured by Malacañang to implicate him in the murders.
He said Malacañang had been seriously looking for ways to prevent him from exposing corruption in government, and implicating him to the Dacer-Corbito murders could be one of those desperate attempts.
Estrada, for his part, said he is being tagged in his compadre's murder to discredit him following rumors that he is planning to run in the 2010 presidential election.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer published an article on Mancao's purported February 14 affidavit, where the former police superintendent supposedly tagged Estrada and Lacson among the main players in the Dacer murder.
In the newspaper report, Mancao said in his affidavit that he was present when fellow former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino told Lacson: "Tatapusin muna namin si Delta, sir, kasi naiirita na si Bigote sa kanya."
The report said Delta was a codename for Dacer and "sir" was Lacson. The word Bigote, meanwhile, refers to former President Joseph Estrada. It added that the supposed conversation happened inside Lacson's vehicle en route to a Japanese restaurant in October 2000.
In a separate interview over ANC, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez confirmed assumptions that Bigote was Estrada. He said Lacson's "7-1" codename was also mentioned in Mancao's affidavit.
Estrada said he could have been the person being referred to in the supposed Mancao affidavit as Bigote. "Ako lang naman ang presidenteng may bigote (I'm the only president who has a moustache)."
Aside from Estrada, Lacson and Aquino, Mancao has supposedly tagged former police superintendent Glenn Dumlao in the murders.
Dumlao was supposed to be extradited to the Philippines this weekend, but was able to stall his return to the country by filing a petition for habeas corpus and motion to stay the extradition before a court in the United States.
Dumlao cleared me
In the interview, Lacson said that his name has been cleared in Dumlao's first handwritten affidavit, which was submitted to the PNP Intelligence Group after his arrest.
He said there was a portion in the affidavit where Dumlao asked Aquino: "Alam ba ni 7-1 ito?"
Lacson admitted that 7-1 was his call sign when he was still PNP and PAOCTF chief.
Lacson said Aquino’s supposed reply to Dumlao was, "Bahala na ang Malacañang na magsabi sa kanya (It’s up to Malacañang to tell him)," which refers to former President Estrada.
He added that Mancao, in previous affidavits, also cleared him of the murders.
Never happened
In the radio dzMM interview, Lacson said his supposed conversation with Aquino, allegedly witnessed and heard by Mancao did not happen. He said Mancao, throughout his PNP chief days, never rode with him in his service vehicle.
He also said that the supposed affidavit depicted him as a stupid man for making sensitive instructions in front of people who are not supposed to know.
"First of all, the supposed conversation and the incident never occurred," he said, adding that he always leaves with his aide- de-camp, Sergeant Oximoso, who is now a subject of a manhunt by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Lacson, meanwhile, admitted meeting with Mancao and Aquino after he won a seat in the Senate in 2001, but denied that he gave the two instructions to hide abroad. He said the two asked for his permission to leave for America.
"Who am I to stop them?" he said.
The senator also admitted meeting Mancao in Florida twice, but denied that they had a conversation with his former operative about the Dacer-Corbito case.
According to Mancao's affidavit, Lacson gave him and Aquino instructions to leave the country after Dumlao was arrested by the Intelligence Group and executed a handwritten affidavit about the murders.
Erap, Lacson wash hands off Dacer-Corbito murders
Originally Posted by Rance
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