By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(Journal Group Link International)

Cezar Mancao’s U.S. Lawyer Thanks Secretary De Lima For Her Intervention

C HICAGO (jGLi) – The United States-based lawyer of Cezar O. Mancao, II was surprised Saturday (Aug. 14)  that the National Bureau of Investigation were detaining Mancao, which is tantamount to “intimidating (him) as they (NBI) refuse to allow him to leave the NBI premises.”

Arnedo Valera told this reporter that he is “very thankful for the timely intervention of Secretary Leila de Lima allowing him to return to his safe house.”

Atty. Valera said Mr. Mancao, 48, “signed a Witness-Protection Program with the Department of Justice last year. One of the important terms and conditions of that program is that he be placed in a secret safe house. For Cezar and to all of us that the NBI wanted to detain him and clearly is intimidating him as they refuse to allow him to leave the NBI premises. That is why we are very thankful for the timely intervention of Secretary De Lima.”

At the same time, Atty. Valera said Mr. Mancao, a former senior police superintendent, assured him that Mr. Mancao will “stand by his sworn affidavit and will tell the truth until justice will be achieved for the double murder cases” of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

30-MINUTE TALK WITH MANCAO

He said he spoke with Mr. Mancao the other day for 30 minutes and expressed his wish that this legal ordeal end and so he can reclaim his normal life. “He wanted this case to be expedited so that justice will be served.”

While Mr. Mancao thanked his family and friends, who stood by him and continue to pray for his safety, Mr. Valera said, Mr. Mancao’s “determination to help solve these murder cases becomes stronger day by day and he will pursue truth and justice even it means sacrificing his life.”

Mr. Mancao’s assurance is in contrast with the statement of his co-accused, former senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao, 46, who flip-flopped anew from his affidavit, clearing his former Philippine National Police Chief-turned Sen. Panfilo Lacson and implicating instead former President Joseph Estrada as the alleged mastermind.

Both Messrs. Lacson and Estrada have denied involvement in the nine-year-old double murder.

Their other co-accused, Michael Ray Aquino, 44, is still awaiting court ruling on Aquino’s appeal, opposing his extradition. There are 21 others who have been implicated and charged with the crime.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima challenged former police officer Glenn Dumlao to file a formal complaint against the state prosecutors he has accused of coercing him to implicate fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

DE LIMA CHALLENGES DUMLAO TO FILE CHARGES

I nstead of just airing his allegations in the media, Dumlao should file an appropriate complaint or sworn statement so the prosecutors can be asked to respond formally, she said.

Secretary De Lima met Aug. 6th with the prosecutors handling the double-murder case, including state prosecutor Hazel Valdez whom Dumlao accused of allegedly forcing him to implicate Lacson in the case.

She said the prosecutors have denied Dumlao’s allegations and showed her the list of questions and answers that lawyers usually prepare for a trial, which she said Dumlao must have been referring to when he said he was given a script.

“I browsed over it and I didn’t [read] anything where he was being made to [implicate Lacson]... There was nothing of that sort,” Secretary De Lima said.

The justice secretary said she would not protect the prosecutors if they were found to have engaged in any wrongdoing.

During his extradition trial in the United States, the Philippine government used Mr. Dumlao’s hand-written affidavit signed on June 12, 2001, in the Philippines, detailing his part in the double murder of Dacer and Corbito.

But Mr. Dumlao presented another affidavit, recanting the first affidavit “as a product of coercion and torture.”

Mr. Dumlao also presented a third notarized affidavit, dated March 2, 2007, where he reiterated before U.S. Federal authorities that he had been tortured when he was invited for questioning by the Newark US Attorney’s Office in the espionage cases involving former US Marine Leandro Aragoncillo and former Philippine police officer Michael Ray B. Aquino.

In that affidavit, Mr. Dumlao said that the Dacer-Corbito murders are being used by the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government to pin “the blame on an opposition politician, under whose command Mr. Dumlao once served."

Mr. Dumlao also criticized the Philippine government for misrepresenting a decision of the Philippine Supreme Court in Soberano v. People when Dumlao was included in the Amended Information on Sept. 17, 2001 even after the Supreme Court excluded him from the information.

Mr. Dumlao and his lawyers were not provided a copy of the Philippine Department of Justice’s Compliance submitted o the Manila Regional Trial Court, preventing them from objecting to the Compliance. # # #

Editor’s Note: To contact the author, please e-mail him at:  (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)