LACSON ANSWERS DACER SLAY ISSUE
Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Friday insisted that he didn’t violate any law when he fled the country and evaded arrest for more than a year from 2010 to 2011 in connection with his alleged involvement in the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
At the presidential forum organized by the KBP, the former Philippine National Police chief invoked Supreme Court jurisprudence, particularly the Miranda vs Tuliao case, which he said justified his legal option not to be taken into physical custody.
The Partido Reporma standard-bearer insisted that people facing an arrest warrant could file pleadings while in hiding, which meant that they could legally reject being put into physical custody.
“It is a choice, it is an option that I took ... You know if it’s a Supreme Court ruling, it becomes part of the law of the land, so I didn’t violate anything,” Lacson said in answer to questions posed by broadcast journalist Ed Lingao.
“If my option is not to get jailed but to let the case continue and file pleadings, it’s a different story if the requirement before the Tuliao case came out is to put you in custody. That’s Catch 22,” he said.
“Because the warrant of arrest would just be archived and the case would not proceed. I exercised that option, so I didn’t violate any law,” Lacson said.
Case remains unsolved
The senator was a fugitive from early 2010 just before a court issued an arrest warrant against him. He had argued that the Dacer-Corbito case was being used by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration to persecute him.
The case involved the killings Dacer and Corbito, who were supposedly abducted in November 2000 while on their way to meet with former President Fidel Ramos and turn over documents exposing government corruption. Days later, their burned bodies were found inside their vehicle in Cavite.
Two farmers later pointed at four members of the now-defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, which was then led by Lacson. The two farmers, however, were also arrested after they were found to have been involved in the burning of the two victims’ bodies. While Dacer and Corbito were positively identified through forensic evidence, the case remains unsolved.
By the time Lacson returned to the country after having the arrest warrant overturned, the new administration of then President Benigno Aquino III, who was his ally, had assumed office.