Dacer-Corbito slay hearings stalled as SC affirms junking of raps vs Lacson

MANILA, Philippines—The hearing on the murders of publicist Salvador Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito was reset to December 14 after the Manila Regional Trial Court hearing the case received a Supreme Court decision affirming a Court of Appeals ruling clearing Senator Panfilo Lacson in the murders.

Senior State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo said Manila RTC Branch 18 and 32 presiding Judge Thelma Bunyi Medina received on Tuesday the decision of the high court junking the motion for reconsideration filed by the Dacer family.

In that motion for reconsideration, the Dacers had asked the Supreme Court to overturn a Court of Appeals decision finding no probable on Lacson.  The appellate court previously cited the inconsistent statements by state witness Cezar Mancao II.

The Supreme Court had apparently upheld the appellate court’s decision, prompting Medina to reset the hearing, which was supposed to have been held on Wednesday afternoon, to next month, Kimpo said, in a phone interview.

“Judge Medina will have no choice but to act in accordance with the Supreme Court. Most likely, Mancao’s motion for discharge as state witness will be junked and he will remain as an accused,” he pointed out.

On Wednesday, Mancao was supposed to be cross-examined as a witness against Michael Ray Aquino.

Mancao and Aquino were both members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force headed by Lacson, then the Philippine National Police chief during the Joseph Estrada presidency in November 2000, when Dacer and Corbito were abducted and killed.

After hiding in the US for months, Mancao was extradited back to the Philippines.  He executed an affidavit pinning Lacson and Aquino in the murders.