Manila court defers Dumlao arraignment

The Manila Regional Trial Court on Thursday deferred the arraignment of former police officer Glenn Dumlao after his lawyer learned that he was still listed as an accused in the November 2000 slay of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito. “All along, I thought my client was excluded from the charge and I only knew very recently that he is now included in the list of accused," said Dumlao’s legal counsel Rogelio Agoot. Agoot, who said he received the amended information only during the day, asked Manila RTC Branch 18 Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez to defer the arraignment because Dumlao’s legal team would have to study the case first. Fernandez then granted Agoot’s request and rescheduled the arraignment on August 26. The amended information refers to Dumlao’s inclusion in the suspects in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. Dumlao, who fled to the United States in May 2003, returned to the Philippines last Sunday to testify on the twin killings. He said in an interview that he wanted to return to the country to finally face the “root of the problems that have been hounding" him. Dumlao is currently under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Callueng added that after his client’s arrival last Sunday, Dumlao had already met his four siblings and his daughter whom he had not seen for almost six years. “The meeting was emotional and they cried," Callueng said. 2nd affidavit inadmissible? On Thursday, Agoot also said the former police officer was not inclined to affirm his second of three affidavits because it was executed without a lawyer’s assistance. "According to him (Dumlao) he will not affirm that (second affidavit) in court," Agoot said. In the affidavit he executed in May 2003, Dumlao claimed he was tortured, pressured, and threatened to implicate Senator Panfilo Lacson to the crime. Lacson had since denied masterminding Dacer and Corbito’s killings. Morell Callueng, also one of Dumlao’s lawyers, also said the second affidavit might be inadmissible in court because it was executed without the presence of a witness. Callueng likewise noted that the deposition Dumlao filed before the US Court hearing on the extradition case of former police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino would also be material in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. “We all know how strict the US is against committing perjury and lies. Dumlao knows the consequence of telling lies in his affidavit and committing perjury, so I don’t think he would lie here in the Philippines because his deposition will also be material here," Callueng said. Aquino is one of the key police officer linked to the killings. He was Dumlao’s colleague and Lacson’s known protégé in the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF). - GMANews.TV