Mancao detained by FBI in Miami

WASHINGTON — Cashiered police senior superintendent Cesar Mancao is being held in Miami, Florida as a witness against his former colleague Michael Ray Aquino on charges of espionage.

Michael Drewniak, a spokesman at the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, said Mancao is being held at a federal detention center in Miami pending his transfer to Newark, New Jersey.

Drewniak said Mancao, who along with Aquino is a trusted aide of former police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is scheduled to appear before a magistrate on Tuesday at which time the charges against him will be explained.

He said the warrant against Mancao was issued based on an affidavit drawn up by Assistant US Attorney Karl Buch in New Jersey, the lead prosecutor in the espionage case against Aquino. The affidavit is now under court seal.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Miami spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said Mancao was seen loitering inside the Pembroke Lakes mall but managed to slip away.

"He (Mancao) ran into Macy’s and disappeared in the crowd," Orihuela told The STAR.

She said Mancao later turned himself to the FBI in Miami the following day after agents got hold of his telephone number and told him why he was being sought.

Orihuela, however, said she did not know if the former police colonel was accompanied by a lawyer.

Mancao and Aquino had served in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) then headed by Lacson.

Both were tagged as the prime suspects in the killing of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Before they could be charged in Manila in July 2001, both fled to the United States.

Aquino was arrested last year for allegedly passing on classified information coming from Filipino-American Leandro Aragoncillo, an FBI intelligence analyst.

Aquino was indicted on Oct. 6 on a conspiracy charge which carries a jail sentence of up to five years, and another charge for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was denied bail since he was considered a flight risk.

Aragoncillo, on the other hand, faces a third count for downloading classified US government information about the Philippines and transferring it to his private computer.

He has been cooperating with investigators since his arrest and is reportedly negotiating a plea agreement.

Prosecutors have rejected Aquino’s request to allow the deposition of former president Joseph Estrada and Lacson, among others, to be witnesses for his defense.

Prosecutors claimed Aquino’s request is unnecessary and improper under the federal rules of criminal procedure.

US district judge William Walls is expected to make a ruling on Aquino’s request or call for oral arguments when he meets both the defense and the prosecution later this month.

In Manila, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it was still awaiting the issuance of an arrest warrant for Mancao by the Manila regional trial court over the Dacer-Corbito kidnap slay before extradition can be requested.

Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo said they have a pending motion for the issuance of warrants against Mancao and Aquino in connection with the double murder case.

"We will really apply for extradition of Mancao if the Manila RTC will issue a warrant of arrest against him," Kimpo said.

As far as they are concerned, there is no clear information on whether the US authorities will use Mancao as a witness against Aquino.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was requesting clarification of the real status of Mancao and why he was being held in detention in the US.

"But in the case of the Dacer-Corbito double murder case, Mancao cannot be used as a state witness against Aquino (since) he could not be considered the least guilty," Kimpo said.

Kimpo earlier announced their preparations in presenting their first witness in the double murder case on May 3.

He said the witness would testify that he witnessed the accused abduct Dacer and Corbito along Osmeña Highway in Manila before bringing the two to Cavite.

"He is an eyewitness who could positively identify those persons who abducted Dacer and Corbito," he said.

Dacer and Corbito were abducted and their charred remains were later found in Barangay Buena Lejos in Indang, Cavite.

Forensic investigation showed that the two were strangled to death before their bodies were burned.

Witnesses later identified that PAOCTF operatives had carried out the murder before disposing of the bodies. — With Jose Rodel Clapano