I won’t surrender, says Mancao

Former Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao (center). INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines – Former police officer Cezar Mancao who escaped from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention center early Thursday will not surrender.

“Hindi sa ngayon. Nakapag-decide na ako na hindi susuko (Not now. I’ve decided not to surrender),” Mancao said in an interview with a radio station Thursday afternoon.

In the same interview, Mancao blasted the people who framed him in the celebrated Bubby Dacer-Emmanuel Corbito double murder case in 2000.

Mancao is a co-accused in the case.

Dacer was a publicist whose clients involved public figures in the government. He and his driver were abducted on Osmeña Highway in Makati in November 2000. Their charred bodies were found in Cavite.

“Walang katotohanan ang mga alegasyon ukol sa paggamit sa akin ng nakaraang administrasyon. Gusto kong manahimik… bigyan ng hustiya…buhay ko ang nakataya rito (There’s no truth about their allegation that I was used by the previous administration. I want peace, justice, my life is on the line),” he added.

But Mancao’s decision to hide seemed to be a bad idea, his former lawyer said.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio asked Mancao to turn himself in to authorities.

He said Mancao’s “justifiable frustration” over the DOJ treatment prompted his former client decide to leave the NBI compound.

Topacio said Mancao’s case should be “a lesson to our government to treat all those who stood for truth and justice fairly and decently.”

Mancao was supposed to be transferred to regular jail on Wednesday but it was a holiday. He escaped Thursday at 1:14 a.m., as recorded by a security camera.

Mancao was discovered missing in an inspection about three hours later, the NBI said.

Mancao was a former intelligence officer of the Philippine National Police who, along with Michael Ray Aquino, has been charged with two counts of murder for the death of Dacer and Corbito in 2000.

He escaped to the United States and extradited to the country in 2009.

Mancao was admitted as government’s witness against then principal accused Senator Panfilo Lacson. However, he remains as one of the accused.

In the lower court, accused Senior Police Officer 4 Marino Soberano, SPO3 Jose Escalante, and SPO3 Mauro Torres through their lawyer Dante David asked the Manila Court to transfer Mancao to the City Jail where his clients and 21 others are detained.

Lawyer Dante David, in his motion, said Mancao should be considered as an ordinary inmate.

David said the Constitution provides for equality, therefore no special treatment should be accorded to him.

The Court of Appeals branded Mancao’s testimony as inconsistent prompting them to drop the two counts of murder against Lacson.

Then, the Manila Court ordered Mancao’s transfer to City Jail.