Dacer camp to present new witness vs Lacson

The camp of slain publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer will not go easy on Sen. Panfilo Lacson who had claimed in his privilege speech that former President Joseph Estrada was the one giving direct orders to the anti-crime group believed to have a hand in the November 2000 Dacer-Corbito killings. The Dacer family will present a witness who will testify before the court that Lacson was seen arguing with Dacer at a beach resort in Batangas province, a week before the publicist and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito disappeared in November 2000, the family’s counsel, Demetrio Custodio told GMANews.TV in an interview Friday night. Lacson was chief of the Philippine National Police and head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) during the Estrada administration. Custodio said that though the testimony would only be “circumstantial evidence," it would corroborate accusations linking Lacson to the twin murders. The lawyer, however, refused to give further details about the testimony until the Department of Justice resumes its hearing next week on the complaint filed by the Dacer camp against the senator. He said the Dacer family would have no problem if the government decides to make Lacson a state witness.

The senator will have another privilege speech at the Senate next week where he is expected to continue his exposés against Estrada, who was tagged by former police officers Cezar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao as the one behind the Dacer-Corbito murders. "If he will offer something that is usable, the Dacer siblings will not have any problem making use of his testimony," Custodio said. But Lacson said the Dacer camp’s presentation of a new witness would just be a "ploy" to convince him to agree to turn into a state witness. "They should rethink their position to present that false witness who they say claims to have seen me and Mr. Dacer arguing in a beach in Batangas one week before Dacer disappeared," Lacson said in a text message. "First, I don't remember having gone to a beach in Batangas my entire life. I hate beaches," the senator said. "Second, and more incredibly, I would not have spent time in a beach with Mr. Dacer as we were hardly close to each other." Last Monday, Lacson said in his privilege speech that Estrada micro-managed the bureaucracy during his term and gave "direct orders" to agencies including the PNP and PAOCTF. While he did not directly link Estrada to the Dacer-Corbito killings, Lacson questioned Estrada’s “temerity" to issue a press statement that it was the senator who supervised the so-called Oplan Delta, which was the alleged plot to kill Dacer. - JOHANNA CAMILLE SISANTE, GMANews.TV