Michael Ray wants NBI detention

MANILA, Philippines - Former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, a co-accused in the killings of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, yesterday asked the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) to allow him to remain at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) jail in Manila where he said he felt safe amid possible threats to his life.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula belonged to the same elite police unit as Aquino when the murders were perpetrated in November 2000.

In a 12-page “urgent” motion, Aquino’s lawyer Simonette Sibal Pulido said detaining him at the Manila City Jail or any other prison facility would imperil Aquino’s life and personal safety because he and other police officers were instrumental in capturing many of the prisoners or convicts incarcerated there.

Aquino, who is also called “Ninoy Aquino” by friends and family, is a former member of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), an agency formerly led by then Philippine National Police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

More than 20 accused, mostly former members of PAOCTF, were implicated in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

Counsels Pulido and Edmon Quizon went to Branch 18 of the Manila RTC to file the motion yesterday morning. The case is being handled by Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina.

Aquino arrived in Manila last Sunday after his extradition from the US. Aquino was immediately brought to the NBI jail.

His counsels, who include lawyers Napoleon Poblador and Manuel Joseph Bretaña III, said Aquino was involved in the capture and imprisonment of numerous criminals, including the members of the dreaded Red Scorpion kidnap-for-ransom gang, Kuratong Baleleng gang, Waray-Waray gang, Baleng-Baleng/Surigao kidnap-for-ransom gang and the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

The lawyers said the fact that Aquino has caused the arrest and incarceration of numerous criminals in several jails in the Philippines is widely known and well documented.

He said the likelihood that any of these criminals and their cohorts would find a way to get back at Aquino is not far-fetched. In fact, it was found that in the New Bilibid Prison and similar jails, the gang members exercise unlawful control. Pulido said they just want to ensure that Aquino is safe so he could stand trial.

Gatdula had disclosed that there are threats to Aquino’s life.

Gatdula, however, clarified that he received only “raw information” which they are verifying with the help of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Gatdula assured the public that there is no special treatment for Aquino, a former colleague of his at the PAOCTF.

Admitting that Aquino is a friend, Gatdula said a personal matter is different from his job.

He said Aquino would be treated just like any ordinary detainee at the NBI jail.

Aquino will stay in the “cramped” detention cell which he shares with around 20 other accused, said Gatdula.

Aquino’s mother, sisters and uncles visited him at the NBI jail last Sunday.

The NBI had imposed tight security measures for Aquino after reports of threats to his life came out from kidnap-for-ransom groups, drug lords, and the mastermind of the Dacer-Corbito double murders.

President Aquino said that his administration would not provide any special treatment for Aquino, apart from his being fetched from the US and brought to NBI jail.

Speaking to reporters in Naga, Cebu where he launched the 200-megawatt of Korean Electric Power Co. in Barangay Colon, the President also clarified that he has no relations – whether by blood or through affinity – with the former police colonel.

“For the record, Michael Ray is not a relative, just in case someone may ask.”

DOJ has two new suspects

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima bared yesterday that there is a “breakthrough” in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) reinvestigation of the Dacer-Corbito case.

She said there are at least two possible suspects who could be involved in the murders but have not been covered by previous investigations.

De Lima refused to give further details, but hinted that the new suspects are “big names.”

Asked if they could be key to identifying the mastermind in the murders, she replied: “Anything is possible.”

She suggested that the new suspects could lead to another angle “with same motive but involving different personalities” relative to testimonies of key accused now being tried at the Manila RTC.

De Lima said the two were not previously charged since evidence against them were “not clear or concrete” and because previous investigation was focused on Senator Lacson’s alleged involvement in the killings that was already dismissed by the Court of Appeals last February.

“They are now covered by our reinvestigation. No investigation was ever pursued against them, that’s why I’m convinced now more than ever that there should be a reinvestigation parallel or side by side with the ongoing trial,” she stressed.

De Lima met with DOJ’s prosecution panel handling the double murder case led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo.

She said the DOJ would pursue prosecution of the case that is now pending in court and in fact has been working for the extradition from the US of another accused in the case – a subordinate of ex-police officer Aquino in the defunct PAOCTF.

Jinggoy appeals to Michael Ray

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada urged Michael Ray to tell the truth on what he really knows about the Dacer-Corbito killings.

“As long as he tells the truth, the truth will set him free,” Estrada told The STAR in a long distance interview from the United States where he is attending a weeklong leadership course.

Estrada said Aquino’s statement clearing his father, former President Joseph Estrada, of any liability in the Dacer-Corbito case bolsters their earlier claim that the ex-president had nothing to do with the killings.

“President Estrada really does not have any knowledge about the killings. So they should stop linking my father to the Dacer-Crobito case,” the senator said.

He said that he respects the opinion of Dacer’s daughters that Aquino may be stonewalling the case to save his own neck.

“Each has their own opinion. And I respect that. Let us leave the (resolution of the) case to the courts,” Jinggoy added.

Former president Estrada had reiterated that he has no knowledge about the Dacer-Corbito killings.

He said Dacer was a kumpadre and that he was even a wedding godfather of one of the slain publicist’s daughters.

“I have nothing to say because I have said many times in the past that I have nothing to do with it,” the ex-president said.

In jest, Estrada, who has sired many children with a number of women, added: “I am a lover, not a murderer.”

Catholic bishops said that they are hoping that the truth on the double murder case would finally be revealed.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Public Affairs Committee (CBCP-PAC) chairman Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez said since the 11-year-old Dacer-Corbito case remains unsolved, “there should be an investigation process.”

He added if Michael Ray has information that would lead  to speedy resolution of the case, then he should cooperate with the authorities.

Meanwhile, former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz also called for the immediate resolution of the case and that “the murderers, whoever they are, should be brought to justice.” With Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez, Evelyn Macairan