The Manila Times


A 2


news SATURDAY D e cember 4, 2010


Ex-DBP head out of Marcos wealth case A


BY JOHN CONSTANTINE G. CORDON REPORTER


FORMER chairman of Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) was dropped


from the accused list for the “second” time in an ill-gotten wealth case filed against a brother-in-law of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.


In a six-page resolution, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan


■ WARRANT FROM A1 Lacson arrest warrant stays


[of arrest]. So I’d rather not make a comment on it,” he added. The senator’s legal counsels, Al- exander Poblador and Jaime Hofilena, in asking the appellate court to suspend the arrest warrant, said that there is no probable cause to issue warrants against their client, citing inconsistencies in the testi- mony of former Police Officer Cezar Mancao 2nd. Lacson was implicated by Man- cao in the murders of publicist Sal- vador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. He fled on January 5 this year, or


two days before the Justice depart- ment filed charges against him be- fore the Manila RTC.


After a month, the Manila court issued a warrant of arrest against Lacson but authorities have been unable to make the arrest since the senator went into hiding. On Thursday, Lacson issued a statement, saying that he will sur- render “only when justice is served or when [he is] already dead.” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is- sued a counter-statement, telling the senator to surrender first before lay- ing down conditions.


De Lima has given an ultimatum for a special task force created to arrest the senator, who is believed to be in the country.


Plenary power


She disclosed that she is reviewing Lacson’s case but that she sees no reason for her to exercise her ple- nary power as Justice chief. De Lima said that the prosecution is sticking to the testimony of Mancao linking the senator to the Dacer-Corbito double-murder. A senator also on Friday said that


he was hoping for adoption of a Senate resolution seeking reinves- tigation of the murder charges filed against Lacson. “I can talk with the leaders of the Senate and take it up in a caucus,” he added, referring to the resolution. Honasan, a classmate of Lacson at the Philippine Military Academy (Class of 1971), said that a reinves- tigation might trigger withdrawal of the warrant of arrest issued against his colleague by the Manila RTC in con- nection with the double-murder. Earlier, Poblador said that Lacson


would surface only if the murder charges were reviewed and the ar- rest warrant was withdrawn. “Without preempting any judg- ment from [de Lima], maybe, the charges deserve a a second look. [The charges] may be reinvestigated without putting in jeopardy our due process,” Honasan said. He added that the Senate, which is supposed to have 24 members, have only 21 with President Aquino not finishing his term, Lacson in hiding and Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th detained on charges of coup d’etat. “We are asking that if the war- rant was lifted and the reinvesti-


■ PEACE FROM A1 Ceasefire prelude to renewed peace talks with NPA


16, traditionally the beginning of “Simbang Gabi” until midnight of January 3, 2011.


Simbang Gabi is a nine-day saying


of dawn Masses across predomi- nantly Roman Catholic Philippines that culminates on December 24. This year’s SOMO, according to


Padilla, is the longest ceasefire with the NPA in the last 10 years. “The Christmas ceasefire is actu- ally a unilateral act on both par- ties. Our side gives the instructions and their side gives their instruc- tions,” chief peace adviser Teresita Deles said. “So, of course, we hope everyone will participate in monitoring [the ceasefire] and call to task whoever violates rules that they have set on their own forces,” Deles added. Padilla and lawyer Pablito Sanidad, a member of the govern-


ment peace panel, met with Luis Jalandoni of the National Demo- cratic Front (NDF), Jalandoni’s wife Connie Ledesma and the NDF law- yer in Hong Kong on December 1 and 2.


NDF is an umbrella group com- posed of among other leftist groups the NPA. It was the first round of informal talks between the communists and the Aquino administration. “Without any pre-set agenda, dis- cussions on matters of mutual con- cern and interest were taken up,” Padilla said. “The talks were open, friendly, free-wheeling and eventually, mean- ingful,” he added.


During the informal meeting,


Padilla said that the effectivity of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Im- munity Guarantees (JASIG) was reit-


erated to develop an “atmosphere of openness for future negotiations.” He added that he presented Jalandoni a copy of an order from the Justice department lifting a “hold de- parture order” on the NDF negotia- tor, and assured him that he may now enter the country in whatever ca- pacity whenever he desires. Padilla said that both parties also agreed to hold another round of in- formal peace talks in the second week of January next year. “This will eventually pave the way for formal negotiations on or about the third week of February 2011. When that happens, this would be again the first of such talks after hav- ing been suspended in August 2005,” he noted. Padilla also disclosed that Ja- landoni would visit Manila today, Saturday.


“We were notified by Mr. Jalandoni that he is coming to Manila, I think, tomorrow, on December 4,” he said. Jalandoni separately announced that the talks had been tentatively set for Oslo, Norway, from February 19 to 25. The government, however, had not made any mention of the venue. Norway had hosted previous rounds of unsuccessful negotiations. The communists’ armed wing, the 5,000-member NPA, has been wag- ing a 41-year armed campaign that, in recent years, claimed at least a thousand lives every year, according to government estimates. The communist guerrillas, also ac- cording to the military, are scattered in at least 60 provinces, or more than two-thirds of the total number, throughout the archipelago.


XINHUA AND AFP


gation was conducted, he [Lac- son] could work in the Senate and put meaning to his mandate while preparing for his defense,” Ho- nasan explained.


The Senate previously adopted resolutions seeking custody of Trillanes and urging President A- quino to grant amnesty to the de- tained senator and other similarly accused military officers and men. Honasan, however, acknowledged that there is a difference between the cases of Lacson and Trillanes. “Sen. Trillanes’s case is political while Senator Lacson’s is criminal,” he pointed out.


Honasan said that whatever ac- tion the Senate might take, the ulti- mate decision on whether to surface would be Lacson’s call, “depending on the degree of his confidence in getting justice” under the Aquino administration. Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Pangili- nan also on Friday reiterated his call on Lacson to face the murder charges against him. “If he is innocent, then he has nothing to fear. We have a new ad- ministration whose mandate is to serve best interest of the people,” Pangilinan said.


He noted that Trillanes, even when he was already elected sena- tor, continued to face the charges filed against him. “It is but proper for Sen. Lacson to do so, too. He must face the charges and submit himself to our justice system,” Pangilinan said. Toward that end, the Armed


Forces of the Philippines also on Friday said that it was stepping up its hunt for the fugitive senator. The Armed Forces spokesman, Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., dis- closed that the military leadership has tapped the expertise of its Intel- ligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in intel- ligence and data-gathering to speed up the arrest of Lacson.


Supporting role


Mabanta also explained that the Philippine National Police (PNP) remains as the lead agency of the search for Lacson, while the AFP would play a supporting role. “In as much as there is a warrant for the arrest of Sen. Lacson, the Armed Forces will be [supporting] the Philippine National Police. We will be tasking our intelligence to further step up the monitoring of incidents or data that will lead to the eventual arrest of (the senator), all in support of the (PNP),” he said. According to Mabanta, the Armed


Forces has not formed any special task force for the purpose as its role would only be limited to intelli- gence gathering through Isafp. On reports that Lacson is just hid- ing here in the country, he said that Isafp was still validating the reports. Aside from the PNP and the Armed Forces, the National Bureau of Investigation also has been con-


upheld the immunity agreement between Placido Mapa Jr., then


DBP chairman, and the Presiden- tial Commission on Good Govern- ment (PCGG), in the case of Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, the brother-in-law of Marcos. When the complaint for Civil Case 0035 was filed, Mapa was listed under the accused along with Romualdez, Marcos and former First Lady and now Rep. Imelda Marcos of Ilocos Norte. Later, the PCGG granted Mapa immunity from civil and crimi- nal liabilities for testifying against the Marcos couple in the


ducting its own parallel search for the senator for nine months. Earlier, the PNP spokesman, Sen- ior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., said that police tracker teams have been dis- patched to various parts of the coun- try to search for Lacson. “We have leads on his [Lacson] whereabouts,” Cruz also disclosed as he expressed confidence that it is only a matter of time before they get the senator. Lacson was PNP chief during the Estrada administration. Cruz stressed though that even if Lacson was their former chief, they are bound to implement the warrant for his arrest to stand trial for the Dacer-Corbito double-murder case.


Liquidation order Case records showed that the then


PNP chief reportedly gave orders to his men at the defunct Presiden- tial Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) to liquidate Dacer and Corbito. On February 5 this year, Manila


RTC Judge Myra Garcia-Fernan- dez, now associate justice of the Court of Appeals, issued a warrant for his arrest.


Based on immigration records, Lacson left the country on January 7, or the same day he was charged with double-murder, on board Cathay Pacific Flight 904 bound for Hong Kong.


Immigration records showed that Lacson has not returned from abroad. Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong, the head of a three-man panel from the Justice department that conducted the preliminary in- vestigation, said that they have the testimonies of least two eyewit- nesses who have direct knowledge of the abduction and killing of Dacer and Corbito.


Ong also cited the affidavit ex- ecuted by Mancao on February 13, 2009 in Florida, pointing to Lacson as the one who gave the order to former Senior Supt. Michael Ray Aquino to liquidate Dacer. Mancao, a principal suspect who turned state witness, said that it was sometime in October 2000 when Lacson gave the hit order to Aquino while they were on their way to a restaurant in Greenhills in what is now San Juan City. The victims were abducted in No-


vember 2000 at South Super High- way, now Osmena Avenue, and Vito Cruz Street while they were on their way to Manila Hotel for a meeting with former President Fidel Ramos. Dacer was reportedly carrying at the time important documents re- lated to the BW Holdings’ stock scan- dal that nearly caused the collapse of the Philippine Stock Exchange. BW was owned by Dante Tan, a close ally of then-President Jos- eph Estrada.


The bodies of Dacer and Corbito


were later discovered later in a mountainous area of Indang, Cavite, south of Manila. They were burned beyond recog-


nition. ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO,


CRIS G. ODRONIA, EFREN L. DANAO AND WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL


United States.


The Supreme Court had also up- held the validity of his immunity agreement with the PCGG. In its resolution promulgated


on November 30, the Sandigan- bayan Fifth Division reiterated the “PCGG-Mapa Immunity Agree- ment” when it junked the motion for reconsideration filed by the PCGG itself. According to the prosecution’s motion, Mapa could not be dropped from the case merely be- cause he was dropped in another


civil case. It said that Mapa is immune


from any offense but only “with ref- erence to which his testimony and information are given, and it has not been shown that the charges in the present case are related to such information or testimony.” But the anti-graft court sided with Mapa, who clarified that paragraph 3 of the immunity agreement allowed him to be dis- missed from both civil and crimi- nal cases filed against him. “[The plaintiff] shall cause the


Sweet charity


dismissal or exclusion of Mapa in all PCGG-initiated civil and criminal proceedings or investiga- tions,’” the Sandiganbayan resolu- tion stated.


It said that the PCGG “basically just reiterated the arguments” it raised against Mapa’s motion to dismiss that was already resolved on November 23, 2009. Justice Roland Jurado, the chair- man of the Fifth Division, penned the ruling, and Associate Justices Teresita Baldos and Napoleon Inoturan concurred.


CONTRIBUTED PHOTO


Chairman Margarita Juico (left) and General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas 2nd (right) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) present a gift and a trophy of appreciation to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin during the PCSO Heroes’ Night held at Club Filipino in San Juan City on Thursday night.


■ STRIKE FROM A1 ‘MORONG 43’ GOES ON


review being done on their case,” she said. On Friday, the “Morong 43” started a hunger strike at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City (Muntinlupa), where they are detained to call for their immediate release. “We understand their sentiment that they want to spend time with their families on Christmas but it’s not within the purview of the execu- tive to decide on the validity of the warrant [of arrest against them]. It’s the decision of the court,” Valte said.


DOJ takes action


De Lima said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is still finding means to address the plea of the relatives for the release of the 43 health workers. Supporters of the “Morong 43”


went to the Justice department also on Friday to push for the release of the detained health workers. The department had submitted a recommendation to the President, who eventually said that the release of the detained health workers will depend on the discretion of the court handling their case. The President was also asked to grant amnesty to the health workers. The 43 health workers were charged for their alleged violation of Presidential Decree 1866, as amended by Republic Act (RA) 8294, and RA 9516, which imposes penalties for illegal possession of grenades and other explosives, and


Commission on Elections Resolu- tion 8714 in relation to Article 261 (q) of the Election Code, which im- poses a ban on firearms during elec- tion periods. The health workers were arrested


on February 6 this year in Morong, Rizal, south of Manila, for allegedly being caught making explosives. The group’s colleagues and rela-


tives, however, claimed that those arrested were just holding a health training and seminar and denied accusations that they were New Peo- ple’s Army (NPA) rebels.


Prolonged detention The “Morong 43” began their hunger


strike three days before marking their 10th month in detention. “This is the only course of action left for us to end our continued ille- gal detention, there being no clear action by the government for our unconditional release,” they said in a statement provided to the media by Bayan Muna party-list. Last week, House Deputy Speaker


Erin Tañada urged Mr. Aquino to drop the charges against the de- tained health workers, citing that de Lima herself has said that the evi- dence against the health workers were illegally retrieved and inadmis- sible as evidence in court. The Justice secretary made the state- ment in her capacity as then-Commis- sion on Human Rights chairman. “‘The Morong 43’ reiterated their previous claims that they were tor-


tured physically and psychologi- cally, deprived of sleep, subjected to various indignities, threatened with harm, denied legal counsel for sev- eral days,” Tañada said. “The Department of Justice has conducted a review of our case. The findings have been submitted to President Aquino. The President himself has admitted that our arrest was based on a defective warrant and that evidence wrongly gotten cannot be used. Yet despite these findings, there are no clear indica- tions that the charges against us will be withdrawn anytime soon,” the group said in a statement. In bolstering their claims of in- nocence, the detained health workers said that the interna- tional community and human rights advocates have expressed alarm over their illegal arrest and continued detention. “Planted evidence was used and false charges were filed against us. Our human rights continue to be violated. Every day in jail is an in- justice to us,” the group said. Tañada viewed the hunger strike as something not surprising, con- sidering the detainees’ plight for al- most a year. “I don’t know if the hunger strike will help [in their release], but we should understand the frustrations they are going through since they were illegally arrested. It’s been four months since their case was brought to the Supreme Court on appeal and the Supreme Court has not yet re- solved the case,” he said.


CRIS G. ODRONIA,


ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO AND LLANESCA T. PANTI


»In The Manila Times


December 4, 1987 Security fears shorten summits of Asean chiefs A SHORTER Manila summit of Southeast Asian heads of state loomed yesterday. Security fears hounding the third top-level conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in its 20-year history have forced a last-minute rescheduling on the Asean leaders’ meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.


December 4, 1967 4 quizzed on ambush THREE doctors were questioned by Philippine Constabulary intelligence officer yesterday in the wake of the reports that they gave first aid to a Huk leader and a follower who took part in the ambush of an Army payroll team in Baliwag, Bulacan.


December 4,1947 Roxas approves upping lumber exports to US BAGUIO: Meeting here for the second consecutive day, President Manuel Roxas and his Cabinet approved trade policies governing lumber, textile, buntal fibers from buri palm leaves for hat making and rattan (native reed), and considered a plan for retirement of government employees.


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