Ping seeks review of arrest warrant
World cops asked to be on lookout
DON’T call him a fugitive.
Alex Avisasado, legal counsel of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, yesterday said even if a warrant of arrest has been issued against the legislator, he has not exhausted the legal remedies open to him.
"He has no intention of abandoning his defense," he said.
Ricardo Diaz, chief of the NBI’s counter-terrorism unit and NBI spokesman, said Lacson, a former PNP chief, is expected to be placed in the Interpol Red Notice today.
This would allow police anywhere in the world to take custody of Lacson, but the Foreign Affairs department warned against any rash request lest a "Jason Aguilar" deportation be repeated. Qatar deported Aguilar, a welder, on the information that a Jason Aguilar surnamed Ivler was wanted.
Manila RTC Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez issued the arrest warrant on Friday over the alleged murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
Lacson left the country on Jan. 5, two days before the Department of Justice filed the case against him.
Records showed he boarded the Cathay 904 flight bound for Hong Kong. Government officials said they have no knowledge about his present whereabouts.
Avisado said he will file a motion for reconsideration of the RTC’s issuance of the arrest warrant.
Avisado said that under the law, his client has 15 days within which to file a motion for reconsideration of the court’s finding of judicial probable cause and to ask that service of the warrant be deferred.
He said Lacson is not hiding from the law and the government knows where he is.
Avisado, however, declined to disclose his client’s whereabouts.
"He is not in hiding. The government knows exactly where he is, but it just wants to make it appear as if he is in hiding. A friend of mine saw him in Hong Kong having dinner. If he is in hiding, he would not be seen publicly, even in a foreign place," the lawyer said.
Avisado said that if the Manila court denies the motion for reconsideration, he can go to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.
Once legal remedies have been exhausted, that is the time when Lacson has to make a decision on whether to surrender, he said.
Avisado said among the grounds the motion for reconsideration will cite is the court’s mis-appreciation of the testimony of the prosecution’s star witnesses, former police officers Cezar Mancao II and Glenn Dumlao.
Avisado said that during pre-trial, Mancao admitted that he could have been mistaken when he overheard Lacson supposedly giving orders to another accused, former Senior Supt. Michael Ray Aquino, to implement "Oplan Delta," allegedly an operation to kill Dacer, sometime in October 2000.
The NBI said it has received information from the Interpol about Lacson’s possible location but declined to give details as it might affect efforts to arrest him.
"Monitoring started even as early as Wednesday or Thursday but that time our counterparts could not hold him because he was not yet in the Red Notice. Once he is placed in the Red Notice, they can hold him," Diaz said.
The DFA asked the NBI to exercise prudence in seeking international assistance on Lacson.
DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said government should avoid a repetition of the extradition of OFW Jason Aguilar from Qatar after he was mistaken for road rage accused Jason Aguilar Ivler.
"They have to furnish more specific details when requesting assistance from counterparts," Malaya said.
Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III, a lawyer, offered his legal services to Lacson, saying he should return to the country and face the charges against him.
Bello said his resignation, which he filed to allow him to pursue his campaign for senator under the administration ticket, takes effect on Wednesday.
"In the end justice will prevail. We should fight for justice and Sen. Lacson should fight for his case…If you are not guilty, you go to court, face them, and prove your innocence," he said.
Bello defended the NBI’s decision to ask Interpol help in going after Lacson.
"That’s a purely legal process. Don’t take that to mean Sen. Lacson is being persecuted. My advice to the NBI is to apply such action on others, so people will not think they are prosecuting Lacson," he said.
An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines joined calls for Lacson to return to the country.
CBCP Public Affairs Committee chairman Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez said Lacson should face the music not only as an individual but also as a government official with a sworn duty to follow the law,
"Kung talagang mahal niya ang bayan, dapat i-present niya ang sarili niya para harapin ang mga paratang sa kanya," Iñiguez said.
The Caloocan prelate, however, said he cannot blame Lacson for leaving the country, saying the credibility of the Arroyo administration is a big question mark. – Evangeline de Vera, Regina Bengco and Gerard Naval