DFA asks Canada to extradite Dacer case suspects

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) asked the Canadian government yesterday to extradite police Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao in accordance with the extradition treaty between the Philippines and Canada.

In a television interview with ABS-CBN TV Patrol last night, Mancao confirmed that he has left the Philippines but did not say to what country he had fled.

"I left the country because I cannot get due process (in the Philippines)," he said in Filipino.

President Arroyo has ordered the DFA to cancel the passports of the former officials of the disbanded Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, who are prime suspects in the kidnapping and murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Manuel Corbito.

Quoting an Immigration and Naturalization Service official at the United States Embassy in Manila, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo told The STAR yesterday Aquino and Mancao were seen in Las Vegas three weeks ago but have since crossed the border into Canada.

Last Thursday, Domingo said Aquino and Mancao, using fake passports, sneaked out of the country three weeks ago via Mactan International Airport in Cebu.

At the Department of Justice, Aquino and Mancao failed yesterday to appear in their preliminary investigation to answer the charges filed against them in connection with the Dacer-Corbito kidnap-murder case.

But Bernard Vitriolo, Mancao’s counsel, arrived an hour late for the 2 p.m. session and tried to submit a counter-affidavit, dated June 29 without any attestation.

State Prosecutor Ruben Carretas rejected the counter-affidavit on the ground that it was "a mere scrap of paper" since Vitriolo had not attested to its validity.

"It’s a mere scrap of paper," he told reporters yesterday. "It’s final. It is deemed that they have already waived their right to file a counter-affidavit. The case is deemed submitted for resolution."

Vitriolo told reporters that as far as he knew, Mancao "is still in the country" although he could not say where as he only communicates with him via a cell phone.

Since Aquino and Mancao had not submitted any counter-affidavit, the allegations of Superintendent Glenn Dumlao linking them to the Dacer-Corbito kidnap-murder case will remain uncontroverted when presented as evidence in court.

Under the Rules of Court, respondents in a criminal case must personally appear before a prosecutor during preliminary investigation to swear to the truthfulness of his counter-affidavit.

Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Rodolfo Ponferrada, who is hearing the case of the 22 policemen accused of involvement in the Dacer-Corbito kidnap-murder, has given government prosecutors 20 days to conduct the preliminary investigation of Aquino and Mancao.

Last June 29, Ponferrada ruled that the Manila RTC has jurisdiction to hear and try the double murder charges against the 22 policemen.

"The court believes and so holds that it has jurisdiction over the offense charged," read the court’s ruling. "With this, the court finds it unnecessary to discuss the other matters/issues raised by the parties." – Rey Arquiza, Delon Porcalla