Justice Secretary Leila de Lima INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Leila De Lima dared former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao to prove his allegations of corruption inside the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
“I challenge him [Mancao] to prove his allegations on WPP. He should either put up or shut up,” De Lima said over Radyo Inquirer Monday.
Mancao over the weekend claimed that the WPP of the Department of Justice was riddled with corruption. While he refused to give details, he said he had documents and text messages from officials as proof of his allegations.
Mancao said the WPP has a lot of money without proper auditing of the expenses and said the program should be reviewed.
He was admitted to the WPP as witness for the government on the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. He remains as accused, however, as the Manila Court has not yet discharged him as witness.
Mancao made the revelation following De Lima’s pronouncement that he would be dropped from the WPP.
De Lima said she would sign this Monday the documents terminating Mancao from the WPP.
“He even announced to the world that he will never be captured by the NBI team. Now, with what he’s doing and telling things about WPP, I do not like that. I will sign today the termination document to drop him from the WPP,” De Lima said.
Mancao escaped early Thursday from the custody of the NBI to evade his impending transfer to the Manila City Jail, citing security threats to his life.
The manhunt for the fugitive former police officer led NBI agents to various places such as motels, shopping malls, subdivisions in Manila, Antipolo and Cavite. His two cellular phones have been monitored.
Mancao, who was extradited from the United States to the Philippines in 2009, implicated Senator Panfilo Lacson and former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino in the murders of Dacer and Corbito.
Lacson went into hiding for a year until the Court of Appeals cleared him of the charges.