Mancao, Aquino come face to face for Dacer-Corbito slay hearing

MANILA, Philippines—For the first time in years, double-murder suspects Cezar Mancao II and recently extradited Michael Ray Aquino faced each other in court during Wednesday morning’s continuation of the hearings on the Dacer-Corbito murders at the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch 32.

Mancao had implicated his colleague Aquino and his former superior, Senator Panfilo Lacson, for the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. The three had worked together under the now-defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

The nearly three-hour closed-door hearing that ended noontime centered on Aquino’s lawyers cross-examining Mancao and trying to prove to the court that he was not a credible witness, said one of Aquino’s lawyers, Manuel Joseph Bretana, in an interview.

Bretana said, however, that Mancao and Aquino were “civil” to each other, even making small talk before the hearing began.

The cross-examination and the hearing will continue on November 23, according to Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo.