Dacer-Corbito probe panel reconvened; Berroya to testify

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on Thursday reconvened the panel investigating the killing of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito after witnesses, including a former ranking police official, expressed their intention to testify. Gonzalez issued Department Order no. 157 directing senior state prosecutor Phillip Kimpo to head the panel that would look into the offer made by Land Transportation Office chief and former police Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya to testify in the case. "I had reconvened the panel because I received a call from Berroya. He's offering to testify. He claimed he was the first subject of the assassination attempt. He would have been assassinated in Kapitolyo [Pasig]," the Justice secretary said. Berroya is expected to appear before the panel on Monday. Kimpo headed the panel that initiated the filing of two counts of murder against former officers of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), led by former police Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino and Cezar Mancao II and Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, who are currently in the US. The three were subordinates of then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Mancao and Dumlao are set to be extradited back to the Philippines in the coming weeks. Berroya has been a long-time nemesis of Lacson. "In the exigencies of the service and in view of the new witnesses found in the above-mentioned case, the panel of prosecutors is hereby reconvened and directed to conduct preliminary investigation on the said case and to file the information with the proper court when evidence warrants," Gonzalez said in his order. Other members of the panel are state prosecutor Hazel Valdez, assistant provincial prosecutor Cielitolindo Luyun and prosecuting lawyer John Benedict Medina. Aside from Berroya, Gonzalez said two other civilian witnesses had come forward to share their knowledge on the Dacer-Corbito case. He said the two were residents of Indang town in Cavite where the killings took place in 2000. “I think we've opened a Pandora's box already. I think there are more witnesses coming out, so before Mancao comes home I want the panel to start getting the testimonies of the witnesses. Maybe witnesses are coming out just now when they are already comfortable with the assurance now that they will be protected," Gonzalez said. He said Berroya’s name was mentioned in the affidavit executed by Mancao in a bid to speed up his extradition. The DOJ chief has the sole copy of Mancao's affidavit and had it placed in a bank vault. Lacson, for his part, said he saw Malacañang’s hand in the looming testimony of Berroya. "Malacanang has started to send in the clowns once again," Lacson said in a text message to reporters Thursday, adding that he would not be surprised if other personalities who have been pinning him on the case would also surface. "I won't be surprised if the rest of the characters like Ador Mawanay, et al. will be resurrected again to make my life exciting once more," he said. - GMANews.TV