EDITORIAL - Solve this case

The administration is trying to project business as usual, but national attention is focused on the historic impeachment trial of President Estrada. Peace initiatives are on hold, and Muslim rebels have intensified their attacks in Mindanao. Legislation is suspended. Even Supreme Court matters have been affected by the half-day work days of Chief Justice Hilario Davide, who presides over the impeachment trial in the afternoons.

With all eyes on the unfolding drama at the Senate, can the government attend to other pressing matters? It’s been two weeks since public relations man Salvador "Bubby" Dacer went missing on his way to his office at the Manila Hotel. His Toyota Revo was found three days later in a ravine in Cavite, but there were no signs of Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

With so many people getting kidnapped or murdered, why should Dacer’s case merit special attention? Because there are speculations that the administration may be involved in his disappearance. Three days before he went missing, Dacer was accompanied to Malacañang by Caloocan Rep. Luis Asistio, known to be a member of the President’s so-called midnight Cabinet. With Dacer was his daughter Ampy Dacer-Henson, who said her father discussed a misunderstanding with the President. Earlier this year, Malacañang had accused Dacer of orchestrating a plot to destabilize the government. The President and Asistio admitted the meeting with Dacer but naturally denied involvement in the publicist’s disappearance.

There are other speculations about Dacer’s case, but given the temper of the times, it’s inevitable that suspicion keeps returning to the administration. The President’s principal accuser, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson, has noted similarities between Dacer’s disappearance and what the governor describes as an attempt on his life – the incident that prompted him to blow the whistle on the Chief Executive. President Estrada has enough problems on his plate these days, but it would be in the interest of his administration to dispel the rumors swirling about Dacer’s disappearance. The only way to do this is by intensifying the search for Dacer and conducting a thorough probe of the case.