MANILA – The National Bureau of Investigation says Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson may be hiding in a nearby Asian country, but don’t be surprised if you don’t immediately recognize him: He may be wearing a moustache or even a wig.
“We have an idea [where he is] but we have to be very cautious about it,” Ric Diaz, chief of the NBI counterterrorism unit (CTU), told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.
Diaz refused to identify the country to avoid jeopardizing pursuit operations but said that it was somewhere “in Asia” and near the Philippines.
He said this was based on “information” the NBI received but he did not specify the source.
Diaz also said that since Lacson’s looks were familiar to Filipinos, it was possible he might be sporting a disguise.
“We have anticipated that he could wear a disguise,” Diaz said on the phone, adding in Filipino: “It could be a moustache or he may have grown his hair long. He could also wear a wig.”
“It is the classic form of evasion,” he said.
Model no more
A moustachioed or longhaired Lacson would look a far cry from his familiar clean-cut image, like the one that has appeared on websites and billboards in Metro Manila showing him as an ad model for facial skin care.
Diaz said it was doubtful that Lacson—the target of an arrest warrant for his alleged role in the decade-old twin murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito—had already returned, or would try to return, to the Philippines where “it would be easy to recognize him.”
“We look at how he could change his appearance and look different from what he is known to look like,” the NBI official said.
In a statement to the media on Tuesday, Lacson said he had left the country to protect himself from what he called an “evil conspiracy” against him.
Case vs Devanadera
Diaz stressed that the NBI needed to coordinate closely with its foreign counterparts in Interpol for confirmation of Lacson’s whereabouts and to implement his arrest so he could be brought back to the country.
Lacson’s lawyer, Alex Avisado, said the senator was not the type to run away from a good fight.
His lawyers are planning to file a contempt of court case against Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera for supposedly making Lacson appear like a fugitive from the law, Avisado said.
He told the Inquirer: “It is unfair to call Senator Lacson a fugitive or even create the impression that he is a man hunted by Interpol as part of the implementation of the warrant.”
Avisado said Lacson had not abandoned the case and that his lawyers would contest the arrest warrant issued by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez.
“All this talk about his being a fugitive is propaganda,” the lawyer said.
Avisado said the court resolution finding probable cause against Lacson was not yet final.
“If the court does not decide favorably, we will exhaust all legal remedies by going to the Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court,” he said.
He also asked the NBI to leave the members of Lacson’s family out of the case, saying they were private people and must remain that way.
Avisado said Lacson’s lawyers would file on Monday a petition asking Fernandez to reconsider her decision to issue an arrest warrant.
Court of Appeals post
Avisado asked why the judge did not consider the open court testimony of two former police aides of Lacson and, instead, purportedly relied on their old affidavits in her decision to issue an arrest order.
He said the testimony of former Supt. Glenn Dumlao and former Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II would show that Lacson was not involved in the November 2000 killings of Dacer and his driver.
“We want the court to put side by side the affidavits of Dumlao and Mancao with their testimonies,” he said.
Interviewed over dzBB radio, Avisado also disclosed that Fernandez had a pending application with the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for a seat in the Court of Appeals and that was why there would be imputations of “political color” in the developments involving Lacson’s case.
“Who will appoint her [to the Court of Appeals] but Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?” Avisado asked.
Affidavits vs court testimony
Asking Fernandez to inhibit herself from the case was an “option” that Lacson’s lawyers were considering, Avisado said
In a text message, Sen. Francis Escudero, a JBC member, confirmed that Fernandez was one of more than 30 applicants for three vacancies in the Court of Appeals.
“[The vacancies] would be voted on [today],” Escudero said.
Avisado said Fernandez’s 18-page arrest order did not discuss the testimony of Dumlao and Mancao.
Saying there were court transcripts to back up his assertions, Avisado quoted Dumlao as telling the court in his Jan. 28 testimony that Lacson was “innocent” of the murder charges and that he had only said so in his earlier affidavit because he was threatened with death.
“Mancao, in his testimony, admitted he may have gotten it wrong regarding his having overheard Lacson ordering Dacer’s execution,” he said.
He said these two testimonies would have more weight since they were made in open court, where Dumlao and Mancao could face perjury changes, than the affidavits they executed earlier. (inquirer.net)
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