Ex-cops’ testimonies in Michael Ray trial vital to Dacer case

An official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disclosed yesterday that testimonies given by former police officials Cesar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao in the espionage trial of Michael Ray Aquino in the United States could provide vital information to the prosecutors in the Salvador “Buddy” Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito double murder case.

NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz, concurrent chief of the agency’s Criminal Intelligence Division (CRID), met with Karl Buch, assistant district attorney in the State of New Jersey, who was one of the lawyers who helped in prosecuting Aquino for getting documents stolen by his co-conspirator Leandro Aragoncillo, a former  Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst.

“Buch said that the Philippines’ Department of Justice (DOJ) should ask for a copy of the testimony given by Mancao and Dumlao and the records of the grand jury in New Jersey. He described them to be very important documents,” Diaz said.

Aragoncillo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage and other charges for taking and transmitting classified information to opposition politicians in the Philippines in an attempt to destabilize and overthrow President Arroyo, the US Justice Department said.

Aquino was sentenced to six years and four months in a US prison after pleading guilty to receiving secret documents from Aragoncillo containing national defense information as well as information on terrorist threats to US military personnel in the Philippines.

Diaz said that on page 18 of the 92-page memorandum of the United States, it reportedly stated that Dumlao and Mancao gave their testimonies before the grand jury on March 1 and March 2 this year, respectively.

“During those interviews, Mancao told the government, among other things, that he believed that Aquino was involved in the abduction of Dacer and Corbito because Aquino told him that he had ordered others to hide evidence of the crime,” the memorandum said.

Diaz said the testimonies were used by the US government to lobby for a longer jail term for Aquino.

He said Mancao said a lot of things before the grand jury regarding the cases pending in the Philippines.

Dumlao, on the other hand, reportedly narrated how he escaped from a police detention cell in Camp Crame. He gave the names of those who helped him escape and reach the United States.”

Diaz explained that under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the Philippines and the United States, it was agreed that they would provide the Philippine government documents from the Aquino case once the sentence has been given. However, the NBI official said they had to be specific about the documents they are requesting.

Since it was only yesterday that the NBI learned of the existence of the testimonies, it might not have been included in the original list.

“We have to get all the documents and tape, actual wiretapped conversation between Leandro Aragoncillo, and former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson,” Diaz said.

Through the MLAT, the Philippine government provided background information on Aquino when he was still an active member of the Philippine National Police.

“We are duty bound to give the documents that they need in the MLAT,” he added.

Diaz said that while the cases against Aquino, such as the alleged murders of publicist Dacer and his driver Corbito and the alleged rub out of 11 members of the Kuratong Baleleng gang, are not connected to the

espionage case lodged against Aquino, these information were valuable in the US court.

The information is needed to determine the background or history of a person.

“The defense counsel presented Aquino as a nursing student. He is not a nursing student in the Philippines. He is a fugitive here,” Diaz added.