Lacson says he won’t surrender

PASAY CITY (PinoyNews) – Colleagues of Sen. Panfilo Lacson have asked him to come out of hiding and surrender and face the charges in connection with the November 2000 murder of  publicist Salvador ‘Bubby’ Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

The senators aired their appeal in the wake of the ultimatum issued by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest Lacson even as she endorsed the proposal of the Philippine National Police to offer P2 million reward to those who could give information that could lead to the arrest of Lacson.

De Lima also denied the motion of Lacson’s lawyer for a reinvestigation of the double murder case against him, saying he has to surrender first. 

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said he believes that the proposal to put P2-million bounty on Lacson’s head would force the senator to “come out and face the charges squarely.”

Enrile said he understands the position of  Secretary de Lima on the proposed reward although President Aquino was cool on the proposal, saying the money could be put to better use.

”I understand the political pressure of public opinion bearing on the official concerned. It is very difficult to pass judgment on the action of Cabinet official because she may have all the reason do it,” Enrile said.
Lacson, through his lawyer Alex Poblador, said he will not surrender if P2 million bounty will be offered for his arrest.

”What I understand is that he will not allow himself to be arrested and detained for a crime which he did not commit so even if there’s a bounty, I doubt if he will surface,” Poblador said. 

Lacson said that he would rather hide and die in dignity than being detained innocent, adding that, his conscience was clear that he had nothing to do with the Dacer-Corbito killings.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada joined Enrie in asking Lacson to surrender, saying he (Lacson) should follow the footstep of former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada who allowed himself to be arrested during his ouster in 2001.

”We are called lawmakers here and I think he has to surrender and do an Erap or a Jinggoy when we were arrested. We did not flee the country,” Estrada said. 

Lacson, a former PNP chief during the time of then President Estrada, fled the country five days after the DOJ released a warrant of arrest on him last January, but he is reportedly hiding in the Philippines now.
Senator Serge Osmena advised Lacson to “stick by the law” even as he supported the demand of Lacson for reinvestigation of his case.

”As a lawmaker, he knows that he must stick by the law. Lacson is a very mature public official. I know he will make the right decision, not only for himself but for the country,” Osmena said. 

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III, on the other hand, said the government should look for another strategy instead of forcing Lacson to come out through P2-million bounty.

”There might be a better strategy or diplomatic strategy. This bounty is a little bit off balance,” Sotto said.

 Senator Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan, a classmate of Lacson in the Philippine Military Academy, said he believes the government would be appealing to the bounty hunters who are not motivated by due process but purely monetary consideration.

”This is counter-productive because we have due process. Bounty hunters would feast on Lacson,” Honasan said.

Secretary de Lima said that Lacson’s  statement that he would not surface if the arrest warrant against him is not lifted and that a reinvestigation is not conducted, showed that the senator was within earshot of the DOJ’s public pronouncement on the implementation of his arrest warrant.

The DOJ is willing to engage the authorities at some level of understanding for possible terms of surrender.

De Lima suggested that Lacson heed the advice of his legal counsel Alexander Poblador to “follow the judicial and legal process” of the country’s criminal justice system, instead of laying down conditions that are not legally feasible at this point.

She said that Lacson has a standing warrant of arrest and was a fugitive from justice.

De Lima said that Lacson knew that his present status did not give him the privilege of laying down terms with a tenor of finality.

Hence, De Lima is taking Lacson’s statements as overtures to start negotiating terms of surrender other than those involving the lifting of his warrant of arrest and the granting of his motion for reinvestigation.

Lacson, through his counsel, filed a petition before the DOJ seeking for the conduct of a reinvestigation of the criminal charges filed against him in connection with the killings of Dacer and Corbito.

The issues Lacson had raised as conditions for his surrender, De Lima said, such as the granting of his motion for reinvestigation, should be discussed after his coming back into the folds of the law.

De Lima also said that at this point, the DOJ could not motu proprio (in its own initiative) act on Lacson’s motion for reinvestigation.

De Lima said that Lacson’s motion for reinvestigation had already been denied  by the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) and was now on its second MR.

A petition for certiorari was also filed by Lacson before the Court of Appeals (CA) assailing the denial by the Manila RTC of his Motion for Reconsideration.

The petition is still pending before the appellate court.

De Lima said that the issue of reinvestigation was now a single incident pending before two courts, the Manila RTC and the CA.

She also said that the DOJ had no jurisdiction to preempt the decision of two courts of law on this matter.

Earlier, she stressed that the joint forces of the DoJ and the NBI will not hesitate to use necessary force if Senator Lacson will resist arrest.

Once his (Lacson’s) exact location is positively identified, De Lima said, they will use the full force of the law in order to implement the arrest warrant against him. 

De Lima gave the NBI an ultimatum to arrest Lacson.

De Lima said she had instructed NBI authorities not to dilly-dally in arresting Lacson once they see him in the area where he is reportedly in hiding.

“My point is since there is a standing warrant of arrest, it has not been quashed…it has not been lifted…no court has told the DOJ to stop looking for him…then we will do this,” she stressed.

“The mission is to implement the arrest warrant. They have reports already, some updates have already been given to me but for obvious reason I cannot share that with you but since they have yet to make any arrest, so my order is for them to implement what they have to do within a few days,” de Lima said.

On July 28, 2010, Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of Branch 18 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila directed the NBI and the Department of Foreign Affairs to take steps to bring Lacson back to the country to face trial after the trial court affirmed the arrest warrant order issued against him on February 4, 2010.

Medina also turned down Lacson’s motion for the reinvestigation of the murder case filed against him by the DOJ in January.

Lacson has filed a petition before the Court of Appeals seeking to stop the lower court from implementing his arrest order. The petition is still pending before the appellate court.

Lacson may be sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code if found guilty.

Aside from Lacson, 21 former policemen and civilian agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force ?have been charged before the RTC in Manila in connection with the Dacer-Corbito kidnap-murder case.

De Lima admitted that they are now in a difficult situation as the public has been blaming government authorities for their failure to arrest Lacson.

De Lima said that in whatever angle they act on, they hear criticisms of “damn if you do, damn if you don’t.”

De Lima assured that the senator is just in the country and this is being strictly monitored by the joint forces of the NBI-DOJ.

Likewise, the DOJ has recommended the reward in order to hasten the arrest of the fugitive senator.

De Lima said that she is just waiting the approval of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo on the proposed P2-million reward for anyone who could provide information on the exact location of the senator. 

The proposed P2 million reward was made in the sense that the government seemed to have been useless to implement the arrest warrant against Lacson, who was believed to be just in the country.

Earlier, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ordered the closure of Senator Lacson’s and his staff removed from payroll due to the continued absence of the senator.