Arrest of ex-cops in Dacer case hailed
By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:23:00 11/21/2008
Filed Under: Dacer-Corbito murders, Murder, Crime and Law and Justice
MANILA, Philippines--An anticrime watchdog said Friday the arrest in the United States of two former police officers linked to the murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito proves there is no perfect crime.
"Whoever is the mastermind of the killings... should now be ready to answer for the crime," Dante Jimenez, founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said on the phone.
According to Jimenez, the VACC has been closely following the progress of the Dacer-Corbito murder case for the past eight years and assisting their families get justice.
"This very encouraging development, hopefully, serves as a reminder to everyone, even to the high and mighty and the so-called untouchables, that there is no perfect crime," Jimenez said.
Three days before the 8th anniversary of the killings, two ex-police superintendents, Cesar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao, were arrested in the United States Thursday night on the strength of the Philippine Department of Justice's request for their extradition.
"The VACC is very happy over their arrest. We hope that finally, the ends of justice will soon be obtained by the families of the victims as they have been waiting desperately for many years for any sign of progress in the case," Jimenez added.
Dacer, who served as publicist of top figures in politics, including former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada, was abducted along with Corbito in Makati City and murdered on Nov. 24, 2000.
Dacer's car was later found abandoned in a ravine in Cavite.
Records showed that in 2001, Mancao and another officer, former Senior Supt. Michael Ray Aquino, fled the country after Dumlao implicated them as organizers of the killing.
Both are facing murder charges before the Manila Regional Trial Court. Mancao and Aquino both served under Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, then chief of the Philippine National Police, in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.
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