(Editor’s Note: The following column, written by Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio when he was still a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, appeared on June 24, 2001.

In his column reproduced in full, Carpio cites a handwritten affidavit executed by then Supt. Glenn Dumlao. Later, in a second and typewritten affidavit dated May 20, 2003, Dumlao said the first affidavit was a fabricated document which other PNP officers had forced him to sign. More significant, Carpio provides a possible motive.)

THE HAND-WRITTEN affidavit of Supt. Glenn Dumlao is like a map that leads us right on the very doorsteps of Bubby Dacer’s killers. Who killed Dacer and why? In his affidavit Dumlao points to “Malacañang” as the mastermind, adding that then PNP Chief Panfilo Lacson knew from the very start about the operation to kill Dacer.

Dumlao knows what he is talking about because he was part of the operation to kill Dacer. Dumlao narrates that Senior Supt. Michael Ray Aquino instructed him to interrogate Dacer on the day of Dacer’s abduction. At about 11 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2000, Aquino sent Dumlao this text message: “Nakuha na si Dacer, paki T.I. (tactical interrogation) mo na.”

When Dumlao went to personally see Aquino for additional instructions, Aquino told Dumlao: “Itanong mo kung ano ang pinagusapan nila ni Presidente, tapos ano ang balak ng opposition lalo na si FVR at si Almonte.” It was not the first time that Aquino assigned Dumlao to Dacer’s case.

According to Dumlao, the entire operation started some time in January 1999 when Aquino directed him to conduct a covert surveillance on the Manila Hotel office of Dacer. When Dumlao’s boss, Senior Supt. Cesar Mancao, inquired about the operation, Aquino answered in Dumlao’s presence: “Okay na ’yan sa Malacañang, pinagusapan na ’yan.” When Mancao asked if Lacson knew about the operation, Aquino replied: “Sila na ang bahala sa kanya.”

Later in the course of the surveillance on Dacer’s office, Aquino instructed Dumlao to enter Dacer’s office and take whatever documents he could find. When Dumlao failed to break into Dacer’s office because of the presence of hotel surveillance cameras in the area, Aquino suggested to Dumlao to bomb or burn Dacer’s office.

This part of Dumlao’s narration is quite intriguing. What document was Aquino looking for in Dacer’s office? Was Aquino trying to retrieve from Dacer documents that might link then President Joseph Estrada to the BW stock scam? When the BW stock scam broke out, BW’s Dante Tan hired Dacer as PR man to contain the damage. It is possible that during this time Dacer came to know that Estrada had a substantial interest in BW. Dacer may even have come into possession of documents to prove Estrada’s ownership of BW stocks.

We now know that a veritable paper trail exists showing that Estrada had a substantial interest in BW. One shocking document that has surfaced is a letter by Estrada’s own lawyer, brazenly written on Malacañang letterhead and addressed to Tan, demanding the turnover to Estrada of BW stocks worth over P500 million. This document inextricably links Estrada to the BW stock scam.

The revelation of this document at that time, long before the impeachment trial, would have caused the same devastating and fatal blow on Estrada as Clarissa Ocampo’s testimony on the Jose Velarde account. Now, the revelation of this document, if proven to be in Dacer’s possession at the time he was killed, could establish the motive behind Dacer’s killing.

The BW stock scam, which caused the near collapse of the Philippine stock market, had its genesis in Malacañang. Alice Reyes, Pagcor’s chair at that time, testified at a Senate hearing that the grant of the on-line bingo franchise to BW Gaming and Amusement Corp. was pre-approved by Malacañang. Reyes made it clear that without Malacañang’s approval, Pagcor would never have granted such franchise. The only valuable asset then of the publicly listed BW was its purported ownership of BW Gaming.

At that time the consensus in the legal community was that Pagcor had no power under its charter to grant a gambling franchise to a private entity. The power to grant a gambling franchise was clearly a legislative power belonging solely to Congress, unless delegated by Congress to an executive agency under express terms and clear standards. Pagcor sought the opinion of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel who inexplicably opined that Pagcor had the power to grant an on-line bingo license to BW Gaming. Incidentally, the government corporate counsel who gave this opinion was subsequently killed for still unknown reasons.

Without the on-line bingo franchise, BW would not have skyrocketed in the stock market. There would not have been a sexy story to sell to gullible investors. BW’s only claim to fame then was its on-line bingo franchise, and this franchise was actually null and void from the very beginning. BW, following a plot hatched in Malacañang, deceived the public into buying shares in a gaming corporation that never had a valid gambling franchise.

In the recently decided jai-alai case, the Supreme Court explained the nature of a franchise: “A franchise thus emanates from a sovereign power and the grant is inherently a legislative power. It may, however, be derived indirectly from the state through an agency to which the power has been clearly and validly delegated. In such cases, Congress prescribes the conditions on which the grant of a franchise may be made.”

The Supreme Court then went on to enumerate these conditions: “Thus, the manner of granting the franchise, to whom it may be granted, the mode of conducting the business, the character and quality of the service to be rendered and the duty of the grantee to the public in exercising the franchise are almost always defined in clear and unequivocal language.” Pagcor’s charter is completely devoid of these provisions.

But why did Malacañang direct Pagcor to grant BW Gaming an on-line bingo franchise? Was it because Estrada had a substantial interest in BW? Was Dacer in possession of documents to prove this? It is getting clearer now that the on-line bingo franchise, the BW stock scam, Dacer’s cold-blooded murder and the impeachment case, are all part of a whirling mass of evidence with Estrada at the center of the vortex.

Lacson cannot escape responsibility for Dacer’s killing because PAOCTF personnel under Lacson’s direct command committed the crime. Aquino, Lacson’s most trusted and loyal aide, headed the operation on Dacer. Both Aquino and Mancao told Dumlao that Lacson was duly informed of the operation.

Was the chief enforcer of the law of the land, then President Estrada, also the chief lawbreaker? Was the top police chief of the land, then PNP Chief Lacson, also the top criminal? Is this for reel or for real? One thing is certain—more shocking details of this gruesome crime are bound to surface. Abangan.