Lacson: I was a prisoner outside a prison cell

(Updated 1:35 p.m.) For the first time in 13 months, Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Monday faced the media at the Senate in Pasay City and answered questions regarding his being a “fugitive from injustice" after being tagged in the Dacer-Corbito murders in 2000. He also took the opportunity to lash at his “old and new detractors" whom he said “humiliated" and “unfairly eviscerated" him of his “dignity and personal honor." “For thirteen months, I was a fugitive from injustice," he said at a press briefing. “I have been subjected to the vitriol of arrogance and hatred by my old and new detractors." Talking about his life as a fugitive, Lacson said he was “humbled by an experience so surreal I never imagined could happen." “Every single day that I was underground, the crucible stared each time I opened my eyes," said the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief turned lawmaker. Reading a statement, Lacson said he felt like he was a prisoner outside the prison cell during the 13 months he was in hiding since he disappeared in January last year. “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," he said. He said he only followed one rule: Do not get caught. “True, evading arrest may be legally difficult to justify, if not hardly defensible. Rightly or wrongly, I thought it was more sensible thing to do given the prevailing circumstances," Lacson said. Life on the run Lacson confirmed that he had traveled to different countries during the 13 months he was in hiding, but refused to detail what and how many countries he went to and how he survived there. He also refused to divulge how he was able to go to other countries with a cancelled passport, saying he had used a “travel document." “Gusto ko rin proteksyunan kahit papaano yung mga taong nag-aruga sa akin (I want to protect the people who took care of me)," he said. During those times, however, Lacson said he realized who his “real friends" were. “Since childhood I have struggled in life. But the life struggle that I had for the past year was the most challenging. The worst pain of all is that I didn’t know who my true and real friends were. I still thank God I found few of them," he said. He denied that the police and National Bureau of Investigation were lax in their hunt for him. “Maingat naman ako (I was just careful)." While he was in the care of different hosts, Lacson said he learned to fend for himself. He said he even learned how to clean, make bread, and cook viands like afritada, adobo, menudo, and sinigang. Asked how he learned to do it, he answered, “Google." He also said that he was able to do some reading during the time he was in hiding. He said he specifically read Sun Tzu’s book “Art of War" on iBooks. Return Lacson returned to the country on Saturday, more than a month after the Court of Appeals ordered with finality the nullification of the arrest warrants against him and the charges lodged against him for his alleged involvement in the November 2000 killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and Dacer’s driver Emmanuel Corbito. After returning to Manila, he declined to grant any interviews and just spent the whole Sunday with his family. He said the experience felt like “Christmas in March." “Kahapon I felt it was the best day of my life with the family (Yesterday felt like the best day of my life with the family)," he said. Lacson was PNP chief and head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) when alleged members of the elite police group abducted and killed Dacer and Corbito. Lacson said he has an idea of who ordered the killings but added that he cannot mention the name because he has no solid evidence to prove this. Former Police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, who was then a PAOCTF official and himself a suspect in the killing, implicated Lacson in his affidavit, but the senator repeatedly denied the accusation. Forgive and forget? Lacson left the country January lat year to evade what he said was a campaign of “political persecution" being mounted against him by the past administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, of which he was a staunch critic. On Monday, he said his contacts at the Department of Justice (DOJ) said prosecutors were “allowed" to shred the rules on evidence in favor of satisfying a last ditch effort of the Arroyo administration to put him away “for a long good years of my life." “The unvarnished truth is I was made to suffer for a crime I did not commit. Two former secretaries of justice drove me to become a fugitive from injustice," he said, though he refused to answer whether President Benigno Aquino III erred in appointing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. He noted, however, that there were “frequent moments" wherein he felt the “persecution" had never stopped even after the Aquino administration took over the country. He said he also wondered where Mancao’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, was getting the funding needed for the publicity stunts against him. “I was ready to spend the rest of my life hiding. [But] all I was asking for is share of justice, correct its miscarriage and trim the excesses of the past regime," said Lacson, refusing to answer whether he considers Aquino a true friend. But he said that despite everything that has happened to him, he is “inclined" to just “forgive and forget." Lacson also advised the Dacer family to look for other suspects, saying there must be another mastermind behind the crime. “Dapat buksan nila ang mata nila (They should open their eyes)," he said. He noted, however, that if the case is elevated to the Supreme Court and the court eventually rules against him, he won’t go into hiding anymore. “I will respect the decision of the SC." Senate duties Lacson is still facing an ethics complaint earlier filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) for his alleged failure to surrender himself to proper authorities; for fleeing the country to evade arrest; and for his continued absence from the Senate sessions. He said that is just proper practice for the Senate ethics committee to continue with the case. For now, he said that he will just try to catch up with the backlog in Senate work by filing more bills and establishing his membership in the different Senate committees. “Magdodouble time ako (I will work double time)," he said, adding that he might take over the chairmanship of the Senate committee on national defense currently headed by Sen. Francis Escudero. - VVP/KBK, GMA News