ShareThisSenator proclaims innocence in double murder, but Dacers poised to appeal before SC
PASAY CITY (PhilAmPress) – After more than a year in hiding, Senator Panfilo Lacson surfaced last week, had his Senate office reopened and held a full-packed press conference at the Senate where he recounted how he survived and eluded arrest by Interpol and Philippine operatives.
Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, flew in from Hong Kong via Cebu through Cathay Pacific Airways and later took a private plane to Manila where he was whisked out away from media.
Lacson, defiant and unperturbed, insisted in the press conference that he had nothing to do with the killing in November 2000 of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito even as he urged Dacer’s daughters to open their eyes and heart and find justice from other people.
He insisted he went on hiding because he did not want to go to prison for a crime he did not commit.
The Dacers, however, would not buy Lacson professing innocence, saying they will raise the case against the senator to the Supreme Court (SC) since the resolution of the Court of Appeals (CA) finding no probable cause for the arrest warrant for Lacson can still be overturned by the High Court.
The Court of Appeals’ Special Sixth Division issued a resolution on March 18 affirming its earlier decision on Feb. 3, 2011 nullifying thearrest warrants against Lacson.
This developed as Justice Secretary Leila de Lima urged Lacson to disclose the places he had been to while in hiding and what travel documents he used in those travels.
Lacson surfaced after Congress went into a five-week break last March 25, and is expected to resume sessions on May 9. He said he will concentrate in the meantime on preparing and filing new bills to make up for his one year absence.
Lacson’s office was closed and his salary and other benefits were suspended in October last year due to his continuous disappearance.
Senate President Protempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said they welcomed Lacson’s return so he could face squarely the charges against him.
“We welcome the return of Senator Ping Lacson so that he can put closure to the accusations hurled against him,” Lacierda said.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said Lacson “will now have to clear his name.”
“The failure of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to arrest him is also lamentable,” he added.
Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer for the Dacers, said “Lacson presumably came out of hiding on the basis of the CA invalidating his warrant of arrest. He should have exhibited the same kind of fidelity to the courts when he was ordered arrested by a competent court.”
“We also wish that if the SC reverses the CA decision and reinstate his warrant, he must show the same respect by honoring such decision and not going into hiding again,” he said.
In making the appeal to the Dacers, Lacson said: ”I know how they feel but don’t close their eyes and focused only to me. The approach should not be like that.”
When asked if he knew the mastermind behind the killing of Dacer and his driver, Lacson said “it’s not for me to tell you who is the mastermind.”
”If I will tell you who is the mastermind and I could not support it with evidence, that would remain a hearsay,” Lacson said.
Lacson said he is contemplating of forgiving all the people who caused his experience “so surreal I never imagined could happen.”
”I’m thinking of forgiving altogether those who caused me pains or seek justice through legal process. But I’m more inclined to just forgive and forget. That’s my state of mind because it’s unending struggle,” Lacson said.
Lacson eluded arrest for one year but he lived a life of a prisoner outside a prison cell throughout the 13 months he was hiding outside the country.
“I was virtually living the life of the prisoner because I was not free to move around. The only difference from one who suffers in confinement is that, I could on my own will, navigate my movements using the best of my instinctive compass,” Lacson said, adding he learned to cook and read electronic books and periodicals via Internet while on the run.
While in hiding abroad, Lacson said he learned how to cook his own food like afritada, adobo and menudo and how to bake pan de sal and empanada.
When asked who taught him, Lacson replied: ‘through Google’, drawing loud laughter not only from the media but from the Senate employees who watched the press conference inside the Jose P. Laurel room.
Lacson said the enormous effort of the government to arrest him made his life difficult although he claimed he was still able to travel to several countries which he refused to name for the security of the people who helped him.
”You know, I always managed to keep my head down all the time because I know our countrymen are all over the world. So it’s really difficult. It was a day-to-day struggle like you live by that day, and live another day,” Lacson said.
Lacson said he was able to escape arrest due to his self-imposed one rule: ‘do not get caught’.
”I really disciplined myself to the hilt. If I was disciplined when I was in the military, it’s 1,000 times more discipline for myself because it’s my survival. It pays to be one, two or three steps ahead all the time,” Lacson said.
Lacson said that if the Court of Appeals did not rule with finality to dismiss his case and the warrant of arrest, he would be ready to hide for the rest of his life.
”I was ready to spend the rest of my life in hiding. I was ready not to see my family ever again,” Lacson said.
The senator said he is also ready to resort into hiding again if he will experience the same ‘rampant injustice’ he experienced under the previous administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
”But, as I said, there are still legal remedies that can be used in this kind of case. My respect to judicial system is still there because that’s part of due process,” Lacson said.
Lacson insisted his innocence in the Dacer-Corbito twin killings, saying he was not in the country during the time that Cesar Mancao claimed he overheard Lacson giving instruction to kill Dacer and Corbito.
”The BI (bureau of immigration) has affidavit that would certify that I was not in the country during that period. The lower court has made unfair decision. What is the evidence, very tenuous,” Lacson said.
Should the Dacer family elevate the case to the Supreme Court, Lacson said he would face the case whether it is in his favor or not.
”If I will not favor, there is nobody I can appeal except to God. Perhaps I will face the case. I’d like to believe the SC will act in accordance with the evidence at hand,” he said.
Lacson, however, advised the Dacer family to open their eyes and heart and find justice from other people.
”I know how they feel but don’t close their eyes and focused only to me. The approach should not be like that,” Lacson said.
When asked if he knew the mastermind behind the killing of Dacer and his driver, Lacson said “it’s not for me to tell you who is the mastermind.”
”If I will tell you who is the mastermind and I could not support it with evidence, that would remain a hearsay,” Lacson said.
Lacson is contemplating of forgiving all the people who caused his experience “so surreal I never imagined could happen.”
”I’m thinking of forgiving altogether those who caused me pains or seek justice through legal process. But I’m more inclined to just forgive and forget. That’s my state of mind because it’s unending struggle,” Lacson said.
He said he is ready to attend the Senate blue ribbon committee investigating the corruption in the military if he will be included as committee member.