By Rey E. Requejo

THE wife of former Senior Supt. Cesar Mancao, a suspect in the Dacer-Corbito double-murder case, was the one who sought Justice Department assistance after his arrest in the US following a Philippine request to extradite him, an official said yesterday.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said House Speaker Prospero Nograles had asked him if he could give an audience to a ?Mrs. Mancao? over the case, and that he agreed. It turned out her name was Maricar.

?That was when I told the Speaker I was willing to talk. Then the e-mails came,? Gonzalez said.

It appeared that Maricar wanted NBI agents and not the police to take custody of her husband, who is expected to be back in two weeks to testify on the case. The Justice Department has said he could be a state witness in the case.

Gonzalez made his statement yesterday to reject claims that the government had anything to do with Mancao, who has executed an affidavit that is said to implicate opposition leaders in the murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, eight years ago.

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, both in the United States, and also to be extradited?have been tagged as suspects in the case.

All three had worked for Panfilo Lacson, who was then serving under President Estrada as head of a police task force against crime. He is now a senator.

Lacson and Estrada both denied involvement in the case even before Mancao?s affidavit could be made public. Estrada was driven from power in 2001 and convicted of plunder in September 2007, but was pardoned by President Arroyo a few weeks later.

?If I were the judge, that [Mancao?s affidavit] would be sufficient to convict?if not, to at least establish probable cause to file criminal charges,? Gonzalez said on Tuesday.

He said his correspondence with Maricar had been limited to an exchange of e-mails, and that he had neither met her personally nor spoken to her on the telephone.

He talked to Mancao when he was already in a US jail. ?I just said that I wanted to talk to his lawyer,? Gonzalez said.

But he said the fact that it was Mancao?s wife who had sought his department?s help in the case meant it was a positive development for the administration.

Mancao?s affidavit was strong enough to pin down those connected to the murders, but Aquino remained the ?key? to solving the case, Gonzalez said.

Aquino ?was in direct contact with somebody who was interested in doing away with Bubby Dacer,? he said, but ?he?s in prison? in the US for leaking FBI documents to the opposition in the Philippines.