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For the past 21 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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CHICAGO – Former ranking Philippine police officer Cezar Ochoco Mancao II is due in court on Dec. 3 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following his arrest on extradition charges, it was learned Tuesday, Nov. 25th.
Mancao, 47, a resident of Plantation, Broward County, Florida, was arrested Thursday (Nov. 20), to face extradition for the double murder of prominent Filipino publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, eight years ago in the Philippines. Court records obtained by this reporter showed that Mr. Mancao is due in court at 11 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2008 before Magistrate Judge Barry S. Seltzer of the United States District of Southern District of Florida in Fort Lauderdale. Mancao, former head of the Presidential Anti- Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) for Luzon and superintendent of the Philippine National Police, will face an extradition hearing starting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2009 before Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow also in Fort Lauderdale. Mancao has been assigned a temporary counsel in Atty. Michael Schutt of Pampano Beach, Florida.
In issuing the warrant of arrest for Mr. Mancao, Judge Snow based her decision on an eight-page complaint “In the Matter of Extradition of Cezar Ochoco Mancao II” filed on Sept. 24, 2008 by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer A. Keene. The complaint was filed on behalf of the “Government of the Republic of the Philippines (the Requesting State)” based on the treaty between the Philippines and the U.S. It says Mr. Mancao “is duly and legally charged with having committed in the jurisdiction of the Requesting State, the offense of Double Murder.” Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Myra V. Garcia- Fernandez issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Mancao on April 28, 2006.
According to investigation by “authorities of Requesting State,” Mr. Mancao, Michael Aquino and Glenn Dumlao were former members of the PNP and PAOCTF with Aquino as Chief of PAOCTF’s Operations Division and Dumlao as deputy chief of operations. On Nov. 24, 2000 at around 10 a.m., Salvador Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, were abducted at the intersection of Zobel Roxas St. and Osmena Highway in Manila. Police Officers Thomas J. Sarmiento and Ruperto A. Nemena were among the abductors. Sarmiento’s group took Dacer and Corbito to Dasmarinas, Cavite.
On that same day and around noon, Police Chief Insp. Vicente Arnado informed Jose Escalante over the phone that the PAOCTF had a police operation. Escalante called SPO4 Marino Soberano and Crisostomo Purificacion and told them they would meet at the back of the Metrobank branch in Dasmarinas. When Soberano and Purificacion arrived at the designated place, they met the group of Dumlao, Arnado, Sarmiento, SPO4 Benjamin Taladua, P/ Insp. Roberto Langaoun, SPO3 Allan Cadenilla Villanueva, SPO1 William Reed, SPO1 Rolando Lacasandile and other unidentified men.
When asked what the operation was about, Arnado said it was already accomplished as they had with them the members of the “kidnapping and carnapping gang.” With an order to kill Dacer and Corbito, Dumlao and his group turned over the victims to Soberano and Escalante. Dacer and Corbito were brought to Barangay Buna Lejos, Indang, Cavite. At about 8 p.m. that same day, Dacer and Corbito were brought to a creek in Barangay Buna Lejos, where they were killed by strangulation and burned.
On Sept. 17, 2001, an amended information discharged Dumlao and three others as accused because they had become state witnesses in which Dumlao described “in detail his participation and that of Aquino and Mancao in the murder of Dacer and Corbito.”
The trial court denied the amended information. On appeal, the Supreme Court “directed the re-inclusion of Dumlao as an accused and sustained the charging of Mancao and Aquino.”
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CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – Former ranking Philippine police officer Glenn Galapon Dumlao will be arraigned on Dec. 5th before the United District Court of Eastern New York in New York.
Mr. Dumlao, 45, former senior superintendent of the Philippine National Police and a resident of Patchogue, New York, was arrested Thursday (Nov. 20) on the strength of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge William D. Wall on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Mr. Dumlao is being held without bail pending an extradition hearing for the double murder of prominent publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, who were kidnapped, strangled and burned exactly eight years ago to the day on Monday, Nov. 24.
According to the rap sheet, Mr. Dumlao, whose last known employment is as a house cleaner of apartment Neck Lane, South Hampton, New York, is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
He is going to be provided with a counsel from the Federal Defender Services Unit of the Legal Aid Society when he appears during arraignment at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 5th before Judge A. Kathleen Tomlinson. There is no word yet if Mr. Dumlao’s co-accused, Cesar Mancao, who was reportedly arrested in Florida, will also be scheduled for extradition hearing. The lawyer for their co-accused, Michael Ray Aquino, who is in detention for spying, has not responded for comment sought by this reporter if Mr. Aquino is also facing an extradition hearing. It was reported that Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had requested the US Justice Department to extradite Mancao and Dumlao to face murder charges in the Philippines.
According to court records provided by the Philippine Justice Department during the trial of Mr. Aquinofor spying before the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, it was Mr. Aquino, who stage-managed the double murder of Dacer and Corbito, with the help of Messrs. Dumlao and Mancao. Aquino, a trusted officer of the then police General turned Senator Panfilo Lacson, as well as another police officer, Cesar Mancao, II, stalled what could have been a sensational trial when they fled from the Philippines in June 2001, using an assumed name in going to Hongkong and using a genuine Philippine passport with a US tourist visa in entering the United States from Hongkong in July 2001.
According to the resolution filed by State Prosecutor Jovencito R. Zuno, “their flight all the more supports the established evidence of their collective and individual guilt as conspirators in the Dacer-Corbito double murder.”
According to the testimony of Police Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, it was on the second or third week of January, 1999 when he was assigned by Police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray B. Aquino, then chief of the Operations Division of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF)of the Philippine National Police under General Lacson, to conduct a discreet background investigation of a certain person later identified as Salvador “Bubby” Dacer.
If You Can’t Get In, Bomb It
Dumlao said Aquino gave him Dacer’s business card and told him to withdraw 20,000 pesos from PAOCTF’s finance and logistics division for the assignment. Using an alias “Irwin Chavez,” Dumlao checked in at the Manila Hotel, where Mr. Dacer occupied a two-room office. He was told by Aquino to “surreptitiously” enter the rooms and take whatever documents and to monitor, personalities and visitors of Dacer.
Failing to accomplish his mission after two weeks of trying, at one point, Dumlao said, Aquino instructed him to “bomb” the office so as to damage the documents and computers in Dacer’s office. Since Dumlao failed to execute the bombing, his mission grew cold as he was also busy with other “projects.”
Job Okayed by Malacanang?
But in October, 2000, Police Superintendent Cesar Mancao asked Dumlao to accompany him to the office of Aquino. There, Mancao asked Aquino, “Noy, ano ba itong Special Operations na ito?” (Noy, what is this Special Operations?”), Aquino answered, “Yang kuwan yan, sir, ... Dacer. Ok na yan sa Malacanang.” (That’s Dacer, sir. That’s already OK with Malacanang.”). Mancao, then asked Aquino, “Clear na ba ito sa boss natin, kay 71 (referring to Gen. Lacson)?” (“Has this been cleared with 71?”), Aquino then allegedly stated: “Sila na daw ang bahala sa kanya.” (They said they will take it up with him.’)
On Nov. 24, 2000 between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. when Dumlao was talking to Mancao, he received a text message from Aquino, which allegedly read: “Nakuha na si Delia. Paki T.I. mo siya coordinate with 19 (referring to C/ Insp. Vicente Arnado). Huwag kang magdala ng taga Bicol.” (They got Delia (Dacer), conduct tactical interrogation and coordinate with 19. Do not bring men from Bicol.) Dacer is from Bicol.
What Did He Discuss with the President?
As instructed by Aquino, Dumlao asked Dacer, who was blindfolded inside a van in Dasmarinas, Cavite, what he discussed with the President, Dacer told him, “Humihingi lang ng advice.” (He just asked me for advice.”) He also asked Dacer about the plans of the political opposition like FVR and Almonte. Dacer answered, “Kaibigan ko ng matagal yang mga yan, kahit sa administrasyon, marami rin akong kaibigan. But I always stay neutral and professional.” (They are my longtime friends. Even in the Administration, I have many friends but I always stay neutral and professional.)
Getting no information from Dacer, Aquino asked Dumlao to “go back to base”and secure “any documents” and deliver them to Aquino. Dumlao then relayed the order to Arnado, who said, “Sige sir, ako na ang bahala dito.” (Alright sir, I’ll take care of things here.)
Court records show that at least 22 men under the command of Aquino, who was using his cellular phone, carried out the abduction of Dacer and Corbito along Zobel Roxas St. in Manila. Dacer and Corbito were later strangled and their bodies were burned and found in barangay in Buna Lejos, Indang Cavite.
Forensic pathologists from the University of the Philippines positively identified Dacer and Corbito based among others on “metal dental plates and a ring.” (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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