Former police officer to be allowed to testify again

A former official of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Task Force who linked three proteges of the former police chief and now Senator Panfilo Lacson to the murder of publicist Salvador 'Bubby' Dacer in November 2000 will be allowed to testify in court, reports said yesterday.

Police Superintendent Glenn Dumlao will continue his testimony even if the Court of Appeals denied the prosecutors' move to remove his name from the charge sheet and use him as a witness, said Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno.

Except for Dumlao, who is a police officer, the Court of Appeals approved the discharge of the three accused who will be used as witnesses.

Dumlao's testimony is crucial since it was he who provided the information with regard to the alleged criminal liability of Senior Superintendents Cezar Mancao III, Michael Aquino and Teofilo Vina, his fellow high-ranking PAOCTF officials in the Dacer murder.

The appellate court turned down the prosecutors' request to discharge Dumlao in the case, on the basis that law enforcement officers are not qualified to be covered by the Witness Protection Programme because it's part of their job to testify.

Aquino and Mancao were Lacson's long-time trusted aides, being his subordinates in the defunct PACC, then headed by Vice-President Joseph Estrada. Vina, former PAOCTF chief in Visayas, is Lacson's province-mate in southern suburban Cavite.

The testimony of Jimmy Lopez, his brother William and Alex Diloy will be used to pin Mancao, Aquino, Vina and the rest who are facing double murder charges for the murder of Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

The court has approved the inclusion of Mancao, Aquino and Vina in the chargesheet because they were not indicted by the Department of Justice when it first conducted the preliminary investigation.

Justices of the appellate court's eighth division ruled earlier that the trio should stand trial in the Dacer-Corbito suit.

The order strengthened further the justice department's request for the extradition of Aquino and Mancao, who have since fled the country to evade prosecution in the controversial case. Aquino is said to be in Canada while Mancao is in the U.S. There are now 23 accused in the Dacer-Corbito case.

In a 25-page resolution, prosecutors established earlier that Aquino "appeared to be the most knowledgeable" in the operation and that Mancao was "equally culpable," both of them being the ''strategic planners'' of the entire operation.

"Aquino was obviously stage managing the entire operation via cellular phone," the prosecutors said.

Vina, on the other hand, was the ''tactical leader'' of some of the suspects because he "took care of the operational assignments" and he coordinated with every member of the group through his cellular phone, the prosecutors argued.

It is not known if the prosecution of the three subordinates of Lacson would incriminate Lacson, considered one of the presidential candidates of the opposition.