Ex-Lacson subordinate appointed NBI chief

(Updated 10:25 p.m.) A former subordinate of fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson has been appointed head of the government agency tasked to hunt him. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa on Thursday night said President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has appointed retired police Director Magtanggol Gatdula as chief of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) replacing Nestor Mantaring. Gatdula, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class of 1976, was deputy chief for administration of the new defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), which Lacson led when he was still a policeman. Lacson is facing double murder charges before a Quezon City court for the nine-year-old Dacer-Corbito case. He fled the country January this year and has been in hiding ever since. A warrant of arrest has been issued against him. Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito were kidnapped and murdered allegedly by members of PAOCTF in November 2000. In his Feb. 13, 2009, former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, who was also a member of PAOCTF, tagged Lacson as the brains behind the twin killings. Lacson, an opposition senator, has denied involvement in the case, describing the charges as political persecution by the Arroyo administration. Nothing to do with Lacson Ochoa said Gatdula's appointment has nothing to do with Lacson. "Walang kinalaman yun (It has nothing to do with it). It didn't matter. It's not a consideration," he told reporters during a dinner in Manila. Ochoa and Gatdula had worked together in the Quezon City government, the former as city administrator while the latter as city police chief. The NBI is currently checking reports that Lacson has already returned to the country and is staying in provinces around Metro Manila. Other appointments Also on Thursday, Ochoa announced the appointments of Cesar Garcia as national security adviser and Angelito "Lito" Banayo as head of the National Food Authority (NFA). Garcia was a former director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) while Banayo was a political strategist who had worked under Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada. Banayo was in the communications team of the Aquino campaign in the May 10 elections. "Meron siyang program about rice na pinresent (He has presented a program on rice)," Ochoa said in explaining Banayo's appointment. He said that in Banayo's proposal, the country may not need to import rice in the next three years. - KBK, GMANews.TV