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Anti-crime group to SC: If Lacson wasn't behind Dacer-Corbito killings, who was?


An anti-crime group on Tuesday expressed its disappointment after the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the testimony of former police intelligence officer Cezar Mancao II against Senator Panfilo Lacson in the 2000 Dacer-Corbito murders.
 
The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) criticized the SC decision that dismissed as "incredible and as unworthy" Mancao's testimony implicating Lacson in the killing of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. 
 
Dante Jimenez, president of the VACC, admitted that he was "disappointed" after the high court concurred with a Court of Appeals ruling earlier dismissing Mancao's testimony. “Now that the SC has allowed the case to simply go down the drain after more than a decade of waiting for the victims’ families, the question that arises and remains unanswered is: 'Who killed Dacer and Corbito?' the same manner 'Who massacred the Vizconde wife and two daughters of Ka Lauro Vizconde,' said Jimenez.
“Why is this? Could not the court give credence to the testimony of a witness who has put his life on the line to give light to the more than ten year-old case? Mancao has risked his own safety to come home and serve as witness. How could the SC say he is 'unworthy and incredible,'" Jimenez said.
 
Jimenez said he does not think there is such a thing as a "perfect crime" and expressed hopes that: "Sooner or later, the long arm of justice will catch up with the culprit."
 
Earlier reports said a Manila court announced last November 23 that the SC dismissed the Dacer’s daughters appeal to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling nullifying the criminal charges against Lacson and declaring prosecution witness Mancao as not credible. Vizconde massacre
The Viszconde Massacre that Jimenez was referring to happened in June 2001. A Parañaque regional trial court had convicted former Senator Freddie Webb's son, Hubert, and eight others for the rape and killing of Carmela Vizconde, 18, and killing of her mother, Estrelita, 47, and sister, Jennifer, 7.
 
However, in December last year, the Supreme Court acquitted Webb and six other accused in the crime for the "prosecution's failure to rule their guilt beyond reasonable doubt," according to Court Adminsitartor Midas Marquez. The high court did not take action on the remaining two suspects because they remain at large.— VVP/MRT, GMA News
 
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