MANILA, Philippines—“Let them face the charges.”

That was the reaction of former President Joseph Estrada when asked about the arrests of former Senior Superintendents Cesar Mancao II and Glenn Dumlao in the US in connection with the Dacer-Gorbito killings.

Estrada, who was the president when Dacer and Corbito were murdered in November 2000, sounded surprised at the news of the arrests, saying that he had not heard about them.

He was attending the birthday party of Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco and the simultaneous blessing of the newly rehabilitated sports complex of the city on Friday when he was asked for his comment.

Estrada declined to answer questions about the murder case, saying he had nothing to do with it and that such questions should be tossed instead to Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

“What’s my ano in there? You should ask Mr. Lacson,” he said.

Dacer’s daughter

Reached by phone in New York, Dacer’s daughter Karina said over dzMM radio that the family was ready to return to the Philippines to appear in the trial of the suspects.

“Actually we were there in July for a hearing, so if we need to go back, we will go back,” she said.

No perfect crime

Asked to comment on the arrests, Karina said: “Of course we are happy because my daddy’s death anniversary is near. It will be eight years, so it’s very good news.”

An anticrime watchdog on Friday said the arrests of Mancao and Dumlao proved there was no perfect crime.

“Whoever is the mastermind of the killings ... should now be ready to answer for the crime,” Dante Jimenez, founding chair of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said on the phone.

“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.

“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. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and Jocelyn R. Uy