De Lima sets terms for Mancao surrender

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Saturday set terms for the surrender of former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, nearly two years after he bolted the detention facility of an agency under her department.

In a text message, de Lima said that if Mancao resurfaces, he should come clean this time and tell the "plain and naked truth" about the Dacer-Corbito double murder in 2000.

"(I)f Mancao does in fact resurface, he comes clean this time. He must tell the plain and naked truth anout that still unresolved mystery which is the Dacer-Corbito murder case. That's the only way for Mancao to redeem himself, given his lost credibility borne by his flip-flopping and contradictory statements/testimonies," she said.
 
She also said Mancao still has "to contend with the criminal case wherein he remains to be an accused."

"He must face the trial squarely and prove the innocence of those truly innocent and the guilt of those truly guilty," she said.

Earlier Saturday, Mancao said he is willing to surface and face the music on the Dacer-Corbito case. He also apologized to de Lima,  former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, his former boss at the Philippine National Police and the now-defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, and former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

Mancao had been in hiding since May 2013, when he escaped from the National Bureau of Investigation, an agency supervised by the Justice Department.

De Lima also said "someone" called her, but she relayed the message that if Mancao really wants to surrender to her, "my condition is for him to come clean this time and not waste our time."

"And his surrender must be on my own terms, and not his. As a fugitive, he cannot be dictating the terms," she said. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News