MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II testified yesterday before the Department of Justice (DOJ) to support the defense of Sen. Panfilo Lacson who is accused of ordering the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000 by the daughters of Dacer.
Roxas appeared before the investigating panel of fiscals and affirmed the claim of his colleague that they were together in the US in September 2000 attending the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York.
He said they left Manila on Sept. 4 aboard a Philippine Airlines flight to the US for the summit held at the UN Headquarters in New York and returned on Sept. 13.
“I recall that Sen. Panfilo Lacson, then director general and chief of the Philippine National Police, was a member of this delegation attending the said summit and was with us at the US at that time,” Roxas told the DOJ panel.
It can be recalled that Lacson claimed in his counter-affidavit submitted to the DOJ last Oct. 26 that former police superintendent Cezar Mancao was lying in claiming that he allegedly gave the hit order to then Senior Supt. Michael Ray Aquino at the time President Estrada was abroad.
“Since I was also in the United States at that time when President Estrada was abroad, I could not have been possibly present in the car with Mancao. (I) could not have given (Aquino) the alleged ‘order’ to neutralize Dacer and Corbito,” he claimed.
Lacson said Roxas, who was then secretary of Trade and Industry, could attest to his claim since they were together in that summit. So he included Roxas’ affidavit as an annex in his counter-affidavit and asked the DOJ panel to summon Roxas to the preliminary investigation.
Also in yesterday’s hearing, lawyers of the Dacer family were given until Dec. 1 to submit their reply to the defense of Lacson.
They said they needed 10 days to prepare the document and another two weeks to have their clients sign it in the US.
Another witness, Immigration officer Simeon Sanchez also appeared in the hearing to affirm that Lacson passed through their counter in the airport during his trip in September 2000.