De Lima’s condition to Mancao: Come clean

MANILA, Philippines – If indeed former police officer Cezar Mancao II has decided to surrender, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said he should be ready to tell the “plain and naked truth” about the 2000 murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer.

“If he really wants to surrender to me, 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,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters Saturday, February 7.

Mancao escaped from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in 2013 before he was even transferred to the Manila City Jail. He faces charges over the murder in 2000 of Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

On Saturday, he hinted at surrender but quickly added he would still “test the waters” to see what “assurances” the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the NBI can offer.

De Lima said coming clean is the only way Mancao can redeem himself, “given his lost credibility borne by his flip-flopping and contradictory statements or testimonies.”

Mancao had testified that former Senator Panfilo Lacson and his former police aides Michael Ray Aquino and Glenn Dumlao were behind the killing of Dacer and Corbito. His testimony helped strengthen the murder charges filed against the 3.

But in 2011, the Court of Appeals, 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.

Mancao on Saturday cleared Lacson and former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada of any involvement in the case, but De Lima said the former police officer still has to face trial. 

“But then again, he 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,” the justice secretary added. 

She said the NBI has been on Mancao’s tracks since he escaped two years ago. In the event he surrenders, De Lima said the bureau will be ready to receive him. – Rappler.com