Palace to Lacson: Come home, face the music

WITH NO passport to use to hop from one country to another, the world has gotten smaller for Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.

The fugitive senator, who is wanted in connection with the November 2000 murder of public relations man Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, has no recourse but to turn himself in, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Saturday.

“He has much lesser options now or none at all except to surrender and face the charges. It’s time to face the music, recognize the authority of a competent court trying the case, and prove his innocence, if at all,” De Lima said in a text message to the Inquirer when asked to comment on the cancellation of Lacson’s regular and diplomatic passports.

The Department of Foreign Affairs canceled the senator’s passports in compliance with an order from a Manila court and requests made by the Department of Justice.

De Lima had assured Lacson a fair prosecution of the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

Lacson managed to flee the country on Jan. 5 to avoid what he termed as persecution by the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Malacañang on Saturday called on him to return to the country to prove his claim.

“Senator Lacson has always said that the charges against him are politically motivated. [There’s a need] to look if what he is saying has any basis,” Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Palace communications development and strategic planning office said over government radio station dzRB.

“For that to happen, Senator Lacson should return,” Carandang said.

Undocumented alien

De Lima was hopeful that the cancellation of Lacson’s passports would be “an effective way to pressure [him] to surface, if indeed he’s out of the country.”

“With a canceled passport, he’s now deemed an undocumented alien, a status which certainly restricts his movement. Authorities would be free to accost him and subject him to deportation proceedings. If found in a country with an extradition treaty with [the Philippines], he can be so extradited,” De Lima said.

She added: “I know that the general public keeps a very keen interest and watchful eye on the developments of this case. The accused cannot thus continue to evade the workings of the legal process.”

De Lima also said she had regularly been directing the National Bureau of Investigation to look for Lacson and implement the outstanding warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 on Feb. 5.

“NBI assures no letup in its search,” she said.

‘Best recourse’

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III also said his fugitive colleague should return to the country and surrender to authorities.

“The best recourse for him at this point is to face the charges and clear his name,” Sotto told the Inquirer by phone. “That’s the best option.”

Sotto made it clear that he and the other senators were subscribing to the dictum that Lacson, like any other accused, “is innocent until proven guilty.”

He echoed the justice secretary in saying that the cancellation of Lacson’s passports meant that the fugitive senator was now “an illegal alien” in whatever foreign country he was hiding.

Sotto also said that so far, none of the senators had heard from Lacson.

Last week, Sen. Francis Escudero told reporters that the chamber could not provide protection for Lacson because of the gravity of the crime of which he is accused.

“The immunity against arrest [for members of Congress] is only for crimes the penalty of which is below six years,” Escudero pointed out.

source:inquirer