Mancao hits Lacson, fears for life

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The former state witness decries harassment, injustice

MANILA, Philippines – More than 10 hours after he escaped government custody, the fugitive Cezar Mancao II granted phone interviews to TV stations on Thursday, May 2.

The former state witness and ex-police officer said he escaped because of alleged improper treatment by the Department of Justice, and accused Sen Panfilo Lacson of plotting revenge against him.

In several television interviews Thursday, May 2, an agitated Mancao said he was being treated as a suspect instead of as a witness.

Yung mga witness dapat medyo bigyan naman ng proteksyon, eh ako pa ngayon ang kinukulong,” he told ANC in an interview. (Witnesses are supposed to be given protection, but in my case I was put in jail.)

Ako ang nag-witness, ako pa ngayon ang kinukulong, ako pa ngayon yung may (banta) sa buhay ko. Ano ba ito? Hindi ba ito panggigipit?,” he said in the ANC interview. (Isn’t this a form of harassment?)

He told ANC he’s not being fed well, and he was not allowed to install an airconditioner in his room despite the summer heat.

Mancao had testified that Lacson and his former police aides Michael Ray Aquino and Glenn Dumlao were behind the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. His testimony helped strengthen the murder charges filed against the 3.

But in 2011, the Court of Appeals (CA), declaring Mancao an “incredible and unworthy witness” due to contradicting testimonies, dismissed the case against Lacson. In December 2012, a Manila court also ordered the release of Aquino from the NBI.

Dumlao, on the other hand, was reinstated in the Philippine National Police after he withdrew his testimony against Lacson and Aquino. Dumlao said he was merely coerced by the Arroyo administration to link the two to the twin murders. 

Dacer was a prominent public relations man who was close to then President Joseph Estrada until both had a falling out before Estrada’s ouster in 2001. Lacson was one of Estrada’s favorite generals.

Dropped as witness

The Supreme Court upheld the CA ruling in favor of Lacson and ordered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in February 2012 to transfer Mancao to the NBI.

The Manila court also rejected his motion to be dropped as a co-accused. This prompted the government to eventually drop him as a state witness.

Mancao confirmed that he was about to be transferred to the Manila City jail, and said he would be in more danger there.

He said he had reached a point where he “cannot take it anymore.”

Mancao said his life has been in danger even under NBI custody, so he feared the situation could turn for the worse if he is transferred to the city jail, he told TV5 news in another interview.

Mancao told ANC there have been 3 occasions when unidentified people tried to access his room at the NBI.

He accused a “certain senator,” whom he later said was Sen Panfilo Lacson, as behind the planned transfer.

Lacson’s men

Sought for comment, Lacson said in a text message to reporters: “That’s his and his custodian’s problem right now. Aside from that, I would defer any further comment.”

Mancao, Aquino and Dumlao had all worked under Lacson at the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force under the Estrada administration. They were also previously charged with murder for the May 1995 Kuratong Baleleng rubout. But that case, too, was dismissed with finality by the Supreme Court.

The two NBI guards, meanwhile, had nothing to do with his escape, Mancao said, and appealed not to involve them in the case. The NBI has already kept them in custody prior to the filing of appropriate charges against them.

Atty Ferdinand Topacio, Mancao’s former counsel, said the DOJ should have already discharged Mancao as an accused in the Dacer-Corbito murder case, but his appeal fell on deaf ears.

“While I do not, and will not, condone the act of my former client, Police Sr. Supt. Cezar O. Mancao, principal witness in the Dacer-Corbito Double Murder Case, I cannot help but empathize with his sad plight and plaints while under Witness Protection,” he said in a statement.

Topacio resigned as Mancao’s counsel last year to avoid “seriously prejudicing” the former police officer’s case with his connections to other high-profile clients.

“Mancao, who has risked everything – life, honor, family – has remained living the life of a miserable prisoner, who cannot earn a living, away from family and friends, without livelihood and liberty and neglected by the State that had initially sought his help,” he said.

Topacio called on Mancao to turn himself in, even offering assistance if needed.

Mancao escaped NBI custody early Thursday. – Rappler.com

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