Former 'Lacson cops' Mancao, Dumlao get together Feb. 12


CHICAGO — Former Philippine National Police (PNP) officer Cezar Ochoco Mancao II is not giving up on his case yet.
 Mancao has asked the Southern District Court of Florida in Fort Lauderdale to invite his colleague, Glenn Galapon Dumlao, to court to make him choose which of the two conflicting testimonies is Dumlao going to affirm at the opening of his extradition hearing on Feb. 12. The lawyers for the former PNP officer have filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and testificandum last Jan. 8 before Judge Lurana S. Snow "to ensure the presence" of Dumlao during the scheduled extradition hearing last Jan. 20, 2009. But the US Marshal's office said it could not ensure Dumlao's presence on Jan. 20, prompting Mancao's lawyers to request for a re-scheduling of hearing of his case to Feb. 12, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. In issuing a writ of habeas corpus and testificandum, Judge Snow ordered the warden of the Nassau County Jail in East Meadow, New York to make available Dumlao "under safe and secure transport in the United States Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida by or before February 12, 2009, for the purpose of offering testimony" in the Mancao case. And "upon completion of testimony," he should “return the subject with all convenient speed under safe and secure transport" back under his care. In his petition, Mancao's lawyers composed of federal public defender Kathleen M. Williams and assistant public defender Bernardo Lopez told Judge Snow that "although Dumlao was an initial suspect, Mancao was not a suspect in the investigation until he was implicated by Dumlao in a sworn statement." The petition added, "in fact, Dumlao's affidavit is the only evidence that ties Mr. Mancao to the deaths" of prominent Filipino publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and Dacer's driver, Emmanuel Corbito. It was added, “the problem with Dumlao’s affidavit implicating Mr. Mancao is that Mr. Dumlao has subsequently executed another affidavit recanting his prior affidavit." That affidavit was the “product of coercion by means of threats, intimidation and physical force." It was disclosed that “the sole basis for probable cause to believe that Mancao was involved in the alleged offense is Dumlao’s initial affidavit." Because Dumlao recanted that affidavit, which he described as “false," “the product of coercion completely destroys any basis for a finding of a probable case." The initial nine-page hand-written affidavit was signed by Dumlao in the presence of Nilo A. Peňaflor, assistant prosecution attorney, in Quezon City in the Philippines on June 14, 2001. In this affidavit, Dumlao said that it was between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2000 “while he was talking to, C1 and P/Supt. Mancao, I received a text message from P/Supt. (Michael Ray B.) Aquino, which read: “Nakuha na si Delta. (They got Delta (Dacer). Paki T.I. mo siya (please conduct tactical interrogation) coordinate with 19 (referring to C/Insp. Vicente Arnado). Huwag kang magdala ng tao mo taga Bicol. (Don’t take men from Bicol). I immediately told P/SSupt. Mancao and asked him: ‘Ano sir? (What now, sir?’ He (Mancao) answered, “Sige, puntahan mo na. I-update mo ako ng resulta ng T.I. mo. (Go ahead, go. Update me on the result of your tactical interrogation.") In a subsequent four-page affidavit he signed before Assistant City Prosecutor Cesar C. Glorioso in Manila on May 20, 2003, Dumlao said it was Col. (later brigadier general) Victor Corpus, then chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), who told him, “Okay, aminin mo na ang pagpatay kay Dacer at Corbito, kay Gemma Sorronda at magtestigo ka sa KB (Kuratong Baleleng) para magkaintindihan tayo. (Okay, confess that you had a hand in the killing of Dacer and Corbito and Gemma Sorronda and testify for Kuratong Baleleng case so we will understand each other.). Ituro mo si (then Gen. Panfilo) Lacson ang nag-utos. (Specify that it was Lacson who issued the order. Sige (ISAFP lawyer, Col.) Davila, dalhin mo na (siya) sa office mo. (Go, ahead, Davila, take him to your office.)" Dumlao said, “I am executing this affidavit to prove the threats and intimidation applied on my person in forcing me to sign fabricated affidavits, including the handwritten affidavit dated 12 June 2001, and to belie the statements contained therein." Mancao’s habeas corpus petition, however, must have confounded prosecutors when he first invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent last December. It was not known if prosecutors are going to present the affidavit that Mancao swore to before notary public, Isabel Moreno, on March 1, 2007 in Broward, County where Mancao quoted Michael Ray Aquino inside a Las Vegas, Nevada hotel for blaming their fellow police Superintendent Teofilo Vina for sloppily dumping Bubby Dacer’s car into a ravine in Maragondon, Cavite that led to the early discovery of the double murder. In that affidavit, Mancao also said he and Aquino followed the advice of then newly elected Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who told them on July 1, 2001 while they were in the Philippines, that “Aquino and I … should leave the country. He told us that the new (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) presidential administration would come after us for the Dacer-Corbito case in an effort to destroy Lacson’s reputation and negatively affect Lacson’s possible chances of a presidential bid in 2004." Dumlao is still weighing his option if he will appeal his extradition to the Philippines. Dumlao has until Feb. 10, 2009 to make up his mind. Dumlao, Mancao and Aquino are facing extradition for the double-murder of Dacer and Corbito in the Philippines in 2000. - GMANews.TV