SENATOR Manuel Roxas II yesterday appeared before a Justice Department panel to corroborate Senator Panfilo Lacson’s statement that he was in the United States when he allegedly ordered the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer in September 2000.
In a sworn statement, Roxas said Lacson and other Cabinet members of then President Joseph Estrada were with him in New York attending the Millennium Summit at the UN headquarters.
Roxas, who was Estrada’s trade secretary, said the delegation left Manila onboard a Philippine Airlines flight on Sept. 4, 2000 and returned nine days later.
Roxas’ statement counters testimony from former police officer Cesar Mancao, who said he overheard Lacson ordering a fellow police officer, Michael Ray Aquino, to eliminate Dacer.
“I recalled that Senator Lacson, who was then the chief of the Philippine National Police, was a member of the Philippine delegation in the said summit and was with us at the United States at that time,” Roxas said in his statement.
Roxas, who filed his sworn statement yesterday, was subpoenaed by the panel on Lacson’s request.
“It’s not true that I was ordering Aquino to kill Dacer because during that time, I was with Roxas along with former officials as part of Mr. Estrada’s contingent in a UN summit,” Lacson said in an interview earlier.
He cited what he described as a “gaping hole” in Mancao’s statement and pointed to alleged inconsistencies in his testimony.
“I hope the panel of prosecutors will see this matter so that they will be enlightened on what really transpired,” he said.
Dacer’s family has been given until Dec. 1 to respond to Lacson’s defense.
Another witness, immigration officer Simeon Sanchez, also appeared in the hearing to affirm that Lacson passed through his counter at the airport during his trip in September 2000.
But two other witnesses summoned by the panel—GMA News reporter Maki Pulido and ABS-CBN News anchor Ted Failon—did not appear in the hearing. That prompted the panel to accept authenticated copies of their respective reports in support of Lacson’s defense.
Lacson said Pulido and Failon both interviewed Mancao in 2008, and were told that the former police officer was under “tremendous pressure” to testify or fabricate evidence against him.
The next hearing is set for Nov. 13.
