Dumlao recounts Dacer's final plea

MANILA, Philippines - Former police superintendent Glenn Dumlao’s heart was touched when publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer asked him, “Bakit n’yo ako ginaganito (Why are you doing this to me)?” during interrogation before he and his driver were killed nine years ago.

Quoting Dumlao, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chairman Dante Jimenez told The STAR Dacer blurted out: “Ako naman ay walang ginawang kasalanan sa inyo. Bakit n’yo ako ginaganito (I have not done you any wrong. Why are you doing this to me)?”

Dumlao told Jimenez Dacer’s question stung his heart and made him rethink what they were doing to the man.

Quoting Dumlao, Jimenez said he was ordered by then police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino to go to Cavite and interrogate Dacer after he was reported missing.

“Hindi niya alam na papatayin, but he said he already had a bad feeling,” he said.

Dumlao later learned that Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito had been killed, he added.

Jimenez said he was allowed to see Dumlao at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila after he arrived from the US last Sunday.

“Nakita ko yung sincerity niya (I saw his sincerity),” he said. “Talagang gusto na niya matapos ito once and for all (He really wants this to be over).”

Jimenez said Dumlao apologized to one of Dacer’s daughters, Carina, over the phone for what he had done and that he had been looking for her for some time, not knowing they both lived in New York.

“He wants to tell it all,” he said. Jimenez said Dumlao told Carina that he was sorry for the injustice that she and her family had suffered because the case has dragged on for years.

“Ma’am, pasensiya na kayo,” he quoted Dumlao as saying.

Jimenez said Carina agreed to talk with Dumlao on the phone for some 15 minutes, and that she accepted the apology.

“She knows that they (Dumlao and Cezar Mancao) are just pawns,” he said. “She wants the masterminds.”

Jimenez said based on Dumlao’s revelations, the VACC is confident that the case against the mastermind in the Dacer-Corbito murder case “stands on solid ground. ”

Dumlao’s and Mancao’s corroborating testimony in court will ensure that justice would prevail, he added.

Dumlao wants to become a state witness in the Dacer-Corbito murder case.

‘Dumlao would not lie’

Dumlao, a suspect in the Dacer-Corbito murder case, will affirm his 2001 affidavit, his lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Morell Callueng said Dumlao would stand by the statements in his 2001 affidavit and would tell the truth when he testifies in court.

“But it is most unlikely that Dumlao will execute a fourth affidavit as people would only put political color on it,” he said.

Aside from the 2001 affidavit, Dumlao also executed affidavits in 2003 and 2007.

Callueng said the 2003 affidavit cannot be considered as it was executed without witnesses.

“He already filed a deposition before the US court, and we all know how strict the US is against committing perjury and lies,” he said.

“Dumlao knows the consequences of telling lies in his affidavit and committing perjury in the US. So I don’t think he would lie here in the Philippines because his deposition will also be material here.”

Callueng said it is up to the court to decide if Dumlao would qualify to become a state witness.

“If my recollection serves me right, Dumlao was not yet an accused when he fled to the US in May 2003,” he said.

“He was actually a government witness for the Dacer-Corbito double murder case at that time. He was already in the US when he was listed as an accused here.”

Callueng said their next step is the arraignment of Dumlao before the court.

“We are hoping that it would be speedy,” he said.

Callueng said Dumlao has yet to see former senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II, who has been moved to a safehouse of the Witness Protection Program.

“It is okay with Dumlao if he sees his co-accused as he believes that telling the truth is the only way to face his case,” he said.

Callueng said since his arrival at the NBI headquarters Sunday morning, Dumlao had only three hours of sleep.

“He kept on reading newspapers,” he said.

“He has jetlag. He already met his four siblings and he met his daughter whom he last saw when she was two years old, and now she is almost nine years old.

“The meeting was emotional and they cried. He has no cell phone and no laptop. But maybe he would have a cell phone soon.”

“Now he can receive visitors but the visitors should pass through security check of the NBI,” he said.     

Lacson turning to God

Sen. Panfilo Lacson is turning to God to counter allegations that he masterminded the killing of Dacer and Corbito.

“I know they won’t stop until they can put me away. But they are not God. Only God decides the fate of a person. They are not God, they have limitations on what they can do to a person like me,” he said in Filipino.

Lacson said he has yet to consult his lawyers if he will comply with the subpoena of a Manila court to appear in the Dacer-Corbito murder trial.

“I saw the attachments, the two affidavits were based on speculation, conjectures and hearsay,” he said.

“So I don’t know how to face the accusations hurled against me which are based on hearsay evidence and speculation.”

Lacson said the drumming up of murder charges against him is “persecution pure and simple.” He has been in the forefront of criticizing the wrongdoings of the administration, he added. 

Lacson said he is not worried about any further revelations that Dumlao would make against him.

“In all the affidavits he signed and executed, I don’t see any problems as far as I am concerned, unless they will suborn him to commit perjury and teach Glenn Dumlao to lie,” he said.

Lacson asked Dumlao not to succumb to pressures linking him to the Dacer-Corbito murders.

“I am concerned on how they will handle (efforts to) implicate me,” he said.

“If they resort to suborning Glenn Dumlao to commit perjury, I hope they don’t. If it’s going to be perjury, then I will be indicted eventually, that’s unfair to say the least.” – With Sandy Araneta, Christina Mendez