Court orders release of Dacer murder suspect

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday to release from detention former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino.

Judge Carolina Sison of Manila RTC Branch 18 did not indicate the reason for the release of Aquino, a suspect in the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Earlier, Aquino filed a motion before the court seeking to quash the criminal information filed against him by the Department of Justice.

Aquino’s lawyer Napoleon Poblador as well as Dacer’s daughters, who filed the murder complaints against the former police official, could not be reached for comment.

Aquino was detained at the NBI headquarters following his extradition from the US in June 2011 to stand trial for the Dacer-Corbito twin slay.

He was charged along with then PNP chief Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Aquino was the former head of operations of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), the unit that allegedly carried out a plot to kill Dacer.

Lacson has been cleared of the charges by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.