Mancao plans to leave PH, De Lima says

Cezar Mancao . INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Former police officer Cezar Mancao has plans of leaving the country, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Friday, quoting from intelligence reports.

De Lima said Mancao was trying to secure passports for himself and two others.

“We’re trying to find out who are the other two. We understand that there’s a lawyer helping to secure these passports so we are [also] confirming the identity of that lawyer. Of course those passports would be fake or under an assumed name. It can’t be that his name is mentioned there,” De Lima said, adding that Mancao is also sporting a wig.

“He probably altered his appearance. What’s the use of having a passport with an assumed name if his appearance is the same,” she said.

“I decided to reveal this as a preemptive move because he might be able to slip out of the country,” she said.

Mancao escaped from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on May 2, a day before he was supposed to be transferred to the Manila City Jail.