MANILA, Philippines??I don?t accept bribes, so why would I offer a bribe??

This was how Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson debunked insinuations he had allegedly tried to buy off his former aide, Cezar Mancao, who had implicated the senator in the killings of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

Mancao's camp did not name Lacson but there was insinuation the bribe try was meant to convince the former to retract his testimony against the fugitive senator.

Lacson said Mancao and his lawyer "may be turning desperate," citing that former Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, another witness, testified in court last August 4 that the senator had no personal knowledge on the Dacer-Corbito killings in 2000.

Dumlao also said that Mancao was not even aware of the alleged operation until after he reported it to him.

?The fact of the matter is, the court testimony of Glenn Dumlao has effectively demolished Mancao?s fabricated testimony against me. That?s why Mancao and his lawyer are on desperation mode,? said Lacson in a statement on Wednesday.

The same court records, Lacson said, showed that Mancao contradicted himself on many points, even testifying that he signed an affidavit prepared by government prosecutor Hazel Valdez.

Lacson said Mancao?s testimony was also disproved by former Senator Manuel Roxas II and former Press Secretary Michael Toledo?when they testified in court.

In the same statement, Lacson?s lawyer, Alex Avisado Jr. accused Mancao of fabricating lies even from the start ?to benefit himself.?

?He implicated Senator Lacson so he can get out of prison in the US and go back to the Philippines ? all expenses paid at that,? Avisado said in the same statement.

?And now, he is accusing our camp of trying to bribe him into recanting a testimony which was already shattered in court,? he pointed out.