DOJ wants Estrada, FVR to talk on Dacer case

Former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Fidel Ramos will be questioned on the kidnapping and murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed double murder charges against 14 suspects, three of them agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) formerly headed by retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Panfilo Lacson.

In a radio interview, Perez indicated they would leave no stone unturned in the investigation of the case to establish the motive and pinpoint the mastermind.

Two suspects, Jimmy Lopez and Alex Diloy, who were arrested on Wednesday by NBI agents, implicated at least six members of the PAOCTF in the crime.

The suspects said they helped PAOCTF men strangle then burn Dacer and Corbito on the night of Nov. 24 last year in a remote village in Indang, Cavite.

The two, both natives of Indang, said the policemen strangled Dacer and Corbito with a length of electric cord before burning the bodies in a pyre of wood and discarded car tires.

The suspects gave no motive for the killings and did not identify the mastermind.

They led investigators to an unmarked grave where charred bones and teeth believed to be those of Dacer and Corbito were dug up.

Dacer and Corbito were snatched by armed men around noon of Nov. 24 at the intersection of the South Superhighway and Zobel Roxas street on the Manila-Makati boundary while the victims were on their way to the Manila Hotel to meet with Ramos.

It was Ramos who first reported the disappearance of Dacer.

"We will have to question former President Ramos so he can give a clear explanation," Perez said. He clarified, however, that it would just be an "informal interview."

Ramos has said he would gladly answer questions on the Dacer case.

He said Estrada would also be asked because Dacer’s daughter had alleged she had seen the then-president angry with her father when the two men met at Malacañang two days before his disappearance.

The ousted president was reportedly mad at Dacer whom he blamed for a series of bad publicity over corruption scandals.

"Maybe, we could find out what really transpired in Malacañang," Perez said.

However, Caloocan Rep. Luis Asistio denied allegations by former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte that Estrada had a hand in the twin slayings.

Asistio asserted that Estrada had no reason to do Dacer in because the two men were close friends.

"In fact, the last time Estrada and Dacer met in Malacañang, they discussed the intrigues being concocted by the camp of Almonte, who is a known propagandist of former President Fidel Ramos," Asistio said in a statement.

Asistio, who admitted having accompanied Dacer to Malacañang, described the meeting between the publicist and Estrada as "like a reunion of long-lost friends."

"Dacer, his daughter, my two nieces and I were having dinner in my house when I asked him about news reports that he has some misunderstanding with the President," Asistio recalled.

He suggested to Dacer that they proceed to Malacañang to pay Estrada a visit.

Meanwhile, sources at Camp Crame expressed fears that some vital evidence and possible witnesses who could give clues regarding the mastermind could have been eliminated.

"We have received unconfirmed reports that some of those who participated in the actual abduction of Dacer have already been silenced," a ranking police official said.

PNP and NBI probers were eyeing the possible involvement of a prominent Cavite politician and two PAOCTF officials to the case.

One of the PAOCTF officials was allegedly linked to the politician who, in turn, is close to Lacson and Estrada.

"We are now trying to find the missing link between the suspects now under NBI custody with the Cavite politician and the two PAOCTF officers," the source said.

He added that once the "missing link" was established, it would be easier to pinpoint the masterminds.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez theorized that the PAOCTF agents could not have murdered Dacer and Corbito without orders from a mastermind.

Golez also pointed out that Lopez and Diloy could not have acted on their own.

"I am very happy that there is a breakthrough as far as the NBI investigation is concerned, and several PAOCTF personnel had been tagged as suspects," Golez said.

"I strongly believe there is a bigwig on top of it because the PAOCTF is a highly-disciplined group that will act on the behest of people who are very powerful," Golez noted.

14 charged in Dacer case

The NBI formally filed double murder charges with the justice department against 14 suspects, among them PAOCTF agents who allegedly brought Dacer and Corbito to Barangay Bona Lejos I in Indang where they were eventually murdered.

The policemen were identified as SPO4 Marino Soberano, SPO3 Jose Escalante and SPO3 Mauro Torres. Cited as accomplices were civilians Crisostomo Purificacion, Digo de Pedro, Renato and Jovencio Malabanan, Lopez and his brother William, Margarito Cueno, Diloy, Rommel Rollan and two John Does.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said the kidnapping complaint lodged against Soberano and seven alleged accomplices which is still pending would be eventually integrated with the murder raps.

State Prosecutor Ruben Carretas, head of a three-member probe panel, said preliminary inquiry on the charges will start on April 23.

Diloy and Lopez, who were being processed for possible inclusion in the government’s Witness Protection Program, reaffirmed their sworn statements before Carretas’ panel.

"We will be extremely careful with our evaluation. We will evaluate the contents and substance of their affidavits," Carretas said in response to questions on the possibility that Diloy and Lopez could be mere falls guys.

Apart from the murder charges, Diloy and the Lopez brothers were also sued for other offenses, including illegal possession of firearms and drugs.

NBI agents who swooped down on William’s house seized an improvised shotgun, ammunition and two airguns.

On the other hand, drug charges were also filed against Jimmy who was caught while in possession of three plastic sachets of shabu and an unlicensed caliber .45 pistol.

Meanwhile, Perez said they may initiate disbarment proceedings against lawyers Ricardo Valmonte and Noli Panganiban for allegedly falsely representing themselves as lawyers of Lopez and Diloy.

"If they misrepresented themselves, we may file charges against them. There might be a ground of disciplinary action against them," the secretary told reporters.

NBI chief lawyer Samuel Ong accused Valmonte and Panganiban of being "hired professionals" out to derail their investigations.

"Believe me, somebody paid them. The two are not really lawyers of our witnesses. They just suddenly surfaced and claimed to be such," Ong said.–Delon Porcalla, Jose Aravilla, Jaime Laude, Jose Rodel Clapano