Dumlao delays return; DoJ hints at ‘friend’ bankrolling extradition

Mistah tells Ping: Face music

By Angie M. Rosales and Benjamin B. Pulta

03/20/2009

Better to face the music.

This was the advice given to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson by his “mistah” and colleague in the Senate, Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, on the issue of the Salvador “Bubby” Dacer-Emmanuel Corbito double-murder case.

At the same time, irked at the information that one of the accused, former police officer Glenn Dumlao’s move to delay his extradition, owing to his lawyer’s habeas corpus plea before the US courts, Justice Chief Raul Gonzalez yesterday threatened to publicly release the contents of the affidavit executed last month in the US by another accused former police officer Cesar Mancao who is being groomed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) as a state witness in the double-murder case.

The Justice chief also insinuated that key persons, short of naming Lacson, have bankrolled Dumlao’s lawyers in the US to stop the extradition.

Gonzalez disclosed that there are people attempting to block the reopening of the Dacer-Corbito double-murder case following the filing of the petition for habeas corpus on Dumlao.

The DoJ secretary pointed out that Dumlao doe not have the financial capability to defray the cost of litigation of the petition he filed before the United States Federal Court.

Gonzalez quipped that Dumlao must have a “generous friend” and that their communications are continuous but the secretary declined to elaborate on the identity of the “friend” of Dumlao who is bankrolling him.

“There’s somebody behind this who is working to prevent his extradition and who will be paying for the expenses (Dumlao) incurred in court when he’s jobless. But that’s just my conjecture.” The DoJ chief said.

“I think that someone could be a friend. I don’t know if they still contact each other, but I’m sure there must be some dialogs or communication moving around.” the DoJ chief said, widely hinting that Dumlao’s “friend” is Lacson.

Reliable sources in the Philippine National Police also told the Tribune it is possible that Dumlao is being pressured by “somebody to close to him” into not turning state witness and corroborate the statements made by co-accused Mancao.

The sources hinted broadly that the “somebody” already “holds” the family members of Dumlao, as a pressure point.

Honasan, for his part, pointed out that instead of engaging in a word war with the administration over charges implicating him in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, Honasan said Lacson should “submit himself to the law.”

Stressing that he empathizes with his “mistah” from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the former coup leder said Lacson’s continued trading of barbs with government officials over the double murder case won’t do him any good.

“That will not be resolved over media. That has to be resolved in the courts, whatever the claims and counter-claims are. We have courts of law where evidence will be presented. This will not be subjected to trial and conviction by publicity,” he said, in reference to Lacson’s allegations that his being dragged in the case is part of the continuing vilification campaign against him by the administration, being a known critic.

“My advice to him is to for him to submit himself to the law as I did. Now I’m back in the Senate. It has to go through due process. Let the evidence be presented, let the prosecution file the necessary case and let the defense defend whoever are implicated,” he said.

“Probable cause has to be determined first and then it must be guided by the principle of presumption of innocence. It is the courts that will determine that. It will happen in the courts,” Honasan, appearing in the weekly Kapihan sa Senado forum, told reporters.

Asked if he shares the observation of Lacson over teh alleged hidden agenda by the government in reviving the case, the senator said he’s not in a position to talk about it.

An earlier report said that the Mancao sworn statement identified Lacson as the alleged mastermind of the double murder.

Lacson denied he had any hand in the murder of Dacer and his driver, Corbito, saying this is yet another move of Malacañang to pressure him into maintaining silence over scams and scandals of the presidential couple.

In a televised interview aired over QTV yesterday, the lawyer of Mancao, who has also been tagged in the Dacer-Corbito muders said Mancao wants the Do J to allow him to have the media with him on the same flight, as well as for him to be equipped with a bullet-proof vest.

The DoJ chief earlier announced he would be banning the media from covering the return of the extradites, both Mancao and Dumlao.

QTV quoted Valera as saying that Mancao made this request for media and a bullet-proof vest after he had visited his client in the detention center in Florida.

Mancao had also earlier asked the DoJ chief not to have him placed under the custody of the Philippine National Police. Gonzalez had the National Bureau of Investigation take charge of Mancao.

It is still not known why Mancao fears the institution he has worked in all those years.

The TV interview also said Mancao has requested for his wife and lawyer to accompany him on the return trip home.

Mancao’s lawyer also claimed that the report on the contents of the Mancao affidavit were not accurate, but neither did the lawyer of Mancao deny that Mancao had tagged Lacson as the “mastermind.”

The Justice Secretary, for his part, yesterday confirmed that a petition filed in the United States by lawyers of Glenn Dumlao may cause delays in the latter’s extradition back to the country to face murder charges in connection.

“I received a call from our NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) agents there in the US and they said Dumlao canceled their flight to RP on Friday because of a petition for habeas corpus and injunction filed in Dumlao’s behalf,” Gonzalez said as he explained that the hearing on the suit is scheduled today.

Dumlao was a key officer of Lacson in the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Task Force during the Estrada administration.

The DoJ chief also threatened to make public the statement of another co-accused and Lacson ally Cesar Mancao which according to an earlier report implicated Lacson in the Dacer killing.

Gonzalez said he does not know how the US court will rule on the Dumlao petition and said he has instructed the Philippine consulate in the US to send a lawyer to the hearing and oppose the petition of Dumlao.

The DoJ chief took the view that if Dumlao will not be extradited, the latter should be deported.

“I think they’re trying to delay the reopening of the preliminary investigation. Dumlao is not a witness. He will arrive here as an accused. Maybe that is the reason he will say to the court he will be persecuted here in a political case.” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez reiterated his threat to disclose the contents of the controversial affidavit of former police officer Mancao.

Gonzalez issued the threat following reports that Dumlao’s arrival in Manila on Sunday might be deferred after the latter’s lawyer supposedly made moves that could block his client’s imminent extradition to the Philippines.

“If this game plan continues, I will release Mancao’s affidavit,” Gonzalez said Thursday.

Gonzalez said he learned of this new tactic of Dumlao and his lawyers to delay his extradition from the NBI officials who had flown to the US to accompany Dumlao on the flight home.

“I suppose this is to delay the extradition. If the lawyer’s petition will be given due course, he will not be able to return to the Philippines,” Gonzalez said in a press conference.

Mancao’s affidavit executed in the United States on Feb. 14, 2009 allegedly identified the “mastermind” in the gruesome double murder in November 2000.

The affidavit was kept by Gonzalez in a bank vault in Iloilo City.

Gonzalez fears that if this happens, the same Dumlao scenario would befall Mancao if he would be fetched from the United States, or that, the latter could even be abducted.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor also confirmed on Thursday that Dumlao filed a habeas corpus petition in the United States Federal Court.

Because of this, Blancaflor said, the supposed scheduled return of Dumlao to the Philippines on March 22, 2009 may not push through.

Blancaflor said that the United States Federal Court would conduct a hearing today on the case, adding that the DOJ would still await the decision of the US court.

Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, NBI Anti-Terrorism Division chief, one of those tasked to fetch Dumlao from the United States and escort him (Dumlao) back to the Philippines, earlier stated that Dumlao has questioned his continued detention in the United States. With PNA

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