Order arrest of Dacer slay suspect in US
MANILA Nearly seven years after the murder of publicist Salvador Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, a Manila judge has issued a warrant of arrest against former police colonel Glenn Dumlao for the abduction and double murder on Nov. 24, 2000. Sources said Dumlao is hiding in the East Coast of the United States.
Manila Judge Myra Fernandez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 signed the arrest warrant against Dumlao Dec. 6, copies of which will be distributed to the different law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Dumlao was supposed to be one of the governments key witnesses in the killing of Dacer and Corbito but he went into hiding since middle of 2003, forcing the court to issue an arrest order.
Sources said Dumlao had been hiding in the US East Coast for more than three years now. Police have been exerting efforts to convince him to come back but there was no result yet.
The names of former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino and former senior superintendent Cesar Mancao, both former aides of former PNP chief turned Sen. Panfilo Lacson, were also implicated in the double murder charges. Aquino is currently serving time in a US prison for espionage and will be deported to the Philippines after he serves his sentence.
Other members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) charged with Dumlao were Chief Inspector Boy Arnado, Inspector Bobby Lancauan, Senior Police Officer 4 Boy Caladuan, SPO4 Mauro Torres, one SPO3 Villanueva, SPO1 Mario Sarmiento, SPO1 William Reed, SPO1 Ruperto Nemeno, one PO3 Lacasandile and PO2 Thomas Sarmiento.
Civilians charged in connection with the case were Crisostomo Purificacion, Diego de Pedro, Renato Malabanan, Margarito Cueno, Rommel Ryal and two John Does.
Records showed that 18 men were charged on the basis of the testimony of state witnesses Jimmy Lopez, his brother William and Alex Diloy.
The names of former Senior Superintendent Teofilo Via, SPO4 Marino Soberano, SPO3s Jose Escalante, Jovencio Malabanan, Rommel Rollan and Margarito Cueno, also cropped up during the investigation.
Another witness, Mario Benavidez, identified Sarmiento in the complaint lodged by the NBI as among those who abducted Dacer and Corbito along South Superhighway on the boundary of Manila and Makati cities at around 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2000.
The victims were on their way to meet former President Fidel Ramos at the Manila Hotel.
Records showed that the day Dacer and his driver were abducted, Escalante called up Soberano and both of them agreed to meet in Dasmarinas, Cavite, to assist Arnados group.
Inside a white Nissan van, Dacer and Corbito were presented to Escalante as notorious kidnapers and carjackers.
The two were turned over to Escalantes group, which was instructed, to kill the two and reduce them to dust.
Dacer and Corbito were subsequently killed and their bodies were burned on the evening of Nov. 24 in a creek near barangay Buna Lejos in Indang, Cavite.
NBI forensic experts later recovered Dacers ring and denture from the ashes exhumed in Cavite. The victims children confirmed that the items belonged to their father.
The names of former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino and former senior superintendent Cesar Mancao, both former aides of former PNP chief turned Sen. Panfilo Lacson, were also implicated in the double murder charges.
The publicists daughter, Carina Dacer, welcomed the detention of Aquino in the US on espionage charges. She has appealed for action from the Philippine government against Aquino, who is also considered as suspect in the murder.
Aquino pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized possession of classified US government documents.
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