Estrada- Mastermind of Murders

Secretary Raul Gonzalez vowed Wednesday to pursue the celebrated Dacer-Corbito double murder even if it would mean quitting his new job as chief presidential legal counsel to ensure that justice will be served to the families of the victims. “I will pursue the case. That [Dacer-Corbito case] is my main concern,” Gonzalez told reporters in a farewell lunch he hosted, adding that he had already discussed the matter with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and her successor, Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera.

Gonzalez said he knows everything about the case as he started it and has in his possession the affidavits of the two suspects, former police Senior Supts. Cezar Mancao 2nd and Glenn Dumlao, and all pieces of evidence that are vital to the solution of the twin murders. “It’s unfair to Mancao and Dumlao if we will just throw them to the elements,” Gonzalez said, citing the promises he made to the former police officers: “That they will be properly protected, that they will not be left to twist in the wind, that we will not leave them to their own device.”

“I think it would be decent on the part of the government to treat them properly,” he added.

Gonzalez said he would not hesitate to quit his new post and “offer myself as lawyer for Mancao and Dumlao if this case will not be handled well, not because of the incompetence of the prosecutors but for other reasons.” Mancao is already in the country. He executed an affidavit last February linking Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada to the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito almost nine years ago.

Mancao named Lacson as the one who gave the order to liquidate Dacer. He also mentioned in his affidavit a codename “Bigote,” allegedly referring to Estrada.

Both Estrada and Lacson deny the charges of involvement in the murders, and allege that the revival of the case is political harassment by the Arroyo administration. Gonzalez said if Mancao corroborates his affidavit before the courts, government prosecutors would recommend him to become a state witness.

If the court grants the petition to make Mancao a state witness, he would be dropped as an accused in the murders of Dacer and Corbito and would be acquitted. Dumlao, on the other hand, is still in the United States waiting for his extradition to the Philippines.

Gonzalez said that Dumlao has also expressed his intention to testify.

“The case can open a wider horizon,” Gonzalez further said, referring to the other celebrated murder case like the “Kuratong Baleleng” and the “Bentain” cases, which all happened during the Estrada administration when Lacson was the Philippine National Police chief and concurrent head of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force. (Manila Times)