NBI has information on Lacson's whereabouts

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has information on the whereabouts of fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

“But this is subject to verification if he is really in the Philippines,” NBI spokesman Special Investigator IV Cecilio Zamora said.

It is also possible that Lacson might still be abroad, he added.

Zamora also declined to state if Lacson would be arrested soon.

“It would depend on our men on the field,” he said.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula has not brought up plans to put Lacson on the Most Wanted List, Zamora said.

A businessman is providing Lacson safe haven in Batangas, Cebu and Palawan, according to an intelligence report from the Department of Justice.

The report only described the businessman friend of Lacson as a “sardines magnate who also owns a Chinese restaurant and a garment manufacturing company.”

Lacson went into hiding early this year after he was charged with the November 2000 murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

Police: Lacson might have stayed in Bataan

Police have not discounted the possibility that Lacson might have hibernated in friendly communities in the coastal town of Bagac, Bataan.

Police are still gathering evidence on whether retired policeman Reynaldo Oximoso, allegedly a trusted aide of Lacson, had direct links with his former boss.

Senior Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao, Bataan police director, had sent out his men to find out if Lacson had set foot in the province following reports that Oximoso was frequenting Bataan to refurbish his bungalow in Barangay Binukawan.

The 60-year-old Oximoso, of the defunct Philippine Constabulary, was arrested shortly before noon last Monday on Governor Linao Highway in Barangay Binukawan after several days of surveillance.

Bataan police led by Senior Police Officer 2 Danny Nazareno arrested Oximoso, who did not resist.

Oximoso owns two cal. 45 pistols, an UZI machine pistol, and cal. 22 Remington rifle, all of which were properly licensed.

Judge Jaime Salazar Jr. of Quezon Regional Trial Court Branch 103 had ordered Oximoso arrested for multiple murder in connection with the killing of five members of the PC Criminal Investigation Service on Jan. 17, 1984.

Police records showed that Oximoso went into hiding in 1993 when an arrest warrant was issued against him.

For the last 17 years, Oximoso had stayed in Cagayan, Isabela and Bataan.

He also owns a house in Pembo, Makati and had lived in the AFP-PNP Housing Village in West Bicutan, Taguig, police said. – Sandy Araneta, Raffy Viray