MANILA, Philippines ? Senator Panfilo Lacson?s lawyer has said the senator cannot be considered a fugitive from justice until the Supreme Court upholds the arrest warrant against him as valid.

?For us we cannot say he's a fugitive since the issuance of the warrant for arrest is still being questioned,? Lawyer Alex Avisado said at the Fernandina Media Forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City, on Wednesday, as a reaction to the putting up of ?Wanted? posters on Lacson along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

For the same reason, he said, the possibility of a Lacson surrender was slim, as doing so would render their objection to the warrant moot and academic.

As for the ?Wanted? posters, Avisado said: ?This is a free country, but as far as we're concerned, it's just a shame campaign. They serve no other purpose but to shame Sen. Lacson and his family.?

Avisado, Lacson's counsel in the Dacer-Corbito murder case, said the VACC, which put up the posters, was well aware that they were still questioning the issuance of the warrant of arrest against Lacson.

The lawyer said they were prepared to take the case to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court if necessary.

He reiterated his call to Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez, who has been handling the murder case, to decline her nomination to the Court of Appeals, which came just three days after the issuance of arrest warrant last Friday.

He said the timing of her nomination was suspicious, and there would always be doubts that her nomination to the Court of Appeals could be a ?reward? for issuing the warrant against Lacson.

(Court Administrator Midas Marquez has vouched for the integrity of Fernandez and said her nomination has been aboveboard.)

Avisado added that Lacson could not expect justice under the Arroyo administration, which he said has been known for its ?selective prosecution? of cases.

?If you're an ally of the administration, your case will go to sleep. If you're an enemy of the administration, your case will go through the express lane,? he said.

Avisado said he last spoke with Lacson on Thursday before the warrant was issued. He claimed not to know Lacson's whereabouts as of Wednesday, said they have been limiting their communication because their phones were bugged.

?But I doubt if the National Bureau of Investigation does not really know where he is,? he said.