DOJ clears Erap in Dacer-Corbito murders

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared former President Joseph Estrada in the November 2000 murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima disclosed yesterday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had looked into the alleged involvement of Estrada in the double-murder case. But the investigation proved futile.

“NBI investigators initially pursued the case, but they hit a blank wall,” De Lima told The STAR.

De Lima said there was no single piece of evidence found that would warrant a preliminary investigation against the former leader.

In an affidavit submitted to consul generals in New York and California in October 2009, the daughters of Dacer – Carina, Sabina, Emily, and Amparo – insinuated that Estrada was the mastermind in the killing of their father.

In September 2010, they filed with the US District Court in San Francisco a $50-million civil suit for compensatory and punitive damages for the cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, torture, and extrajudicial killing of their father.

Dacer’s daughters sought $10 million in principal compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages.

They named Estrada, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, businessman Dante Tan, former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) president Reynaldo Tenorio and former police officers Michael Ray Aquino, Glenn Dumlao and Vicente Arnado as respondents to the case.

Tenorio headed the government-owned corporation engaged in casino operations during Estrada’s term, while Tan was a key player in the Best World Resources stock manipulation scandal and owner of Best World Gaming and Entertainment Corp., which was given the sole authority by Pagcor to conduct computerized online bingo gaming nationwide. Tan fled the Philippines shortly after Estrada was ousted in 2001 and remains at large.

Dacer’s daughters believed Estrada had an axe to grind against their father who had threatened to expose the former president’s alleged involvement in insider stock trading.

Estrada’s link to the Dacer-Corbito case was bolstered by former Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao, one of the principal accused in the double murder case who was extradited from the US in June 2009. 

Mancao implicated Lacson in the twin murders.

Mancao recently escaped from DOJ’s custody after the Manila Regional Trial Court denied his bid to be dropped as an accused. He was also dropped from the government’s witness protection program.

The courts had cleared Lacson, Aquino and Dumlao of involvement in the crime.

Dacer and Corbito were found dead in Indang, Cavite after being kidnapped in Manila on Nov. 24, 2000.