THE affidavit of former Senior Supt. Cesar Mancao, a suspect in the murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver in 2004, has been placed in a bank vault for ?safekeeping,? Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said yesterday.

He said Mancao?s sworn statement, executed at the Philippine Consulate in Florida, contained the details of his participation in the killing of Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, and the people who planned the murder.

The government is to reopen the case once Mancao is extradited in two to three weeks. Gonzalez said he would reveal what the affidavit contained once Mancao was under Philippine custody.

?It?s a four-page document . . . exhaustive and substantially detailed,? Gonzalez said.

?I had to place it in a bank vault. I had to keep it because it is dangerous, because [it implicates people in high places]. I don?t think I would be forgiven if it got lost.?

Dacer and Corbito were abducted in broad daylight along the South Superhighway on Nov. 24, 2000, and by gunmen believed to be members of the police force.

Their charred bodies were found four days later in a creek in Indang, Cavite.

Mancao aside, two other former police officials?Senior Supts. Michael Ray Aquino and Glenn Dumlao?have also been tagged as suspects in the case.

All three had worked under Lacson, who was then head of the National Police. Aquino and Dumlao are also facing extradition from the US.

Last week, Lacson challenged the administration to make Mancao?s affidavit public, saying he had ?nothing to do? with the murders.

On Sunday, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Lacson should not overreact unless he wanted to attract suspicion over the case.

?The only time we can make a reaction is when Mancao has already arrived,? Remonde told a radio interview. Rey E. Requejo