Warrant of arrest out; Lacson is now a fugitive
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MANILA - A Philippine court on Friday ordered the arrest of a senator who fled abroad claiming political persecution after being accused of murdering a publicist, officials said.
The arrest warrant officially makes Senator Panfilo Lacson a fugitive, a month after he left the country, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters.
Lacson, a former Philippines police chief, flew to Hong Kong on January 5 and declared earlier this week that he would not be returning soon as he expected to be arrested for the murder ten years ago of Salvador Dacer.
Asked in an interview with ABS-CBN television if Lacson would be arrested if he returned, Devanadera said: "Yes, because the warrant of arrest is out."
The government could work for his extradition, she said, but added that Manila did not know where he was.
The Justice Department's investigation bureau will ask Interpol to help in locating Lacson, said the bureau's spokesman Ric Diaz.
Opposition senator Lacson had previously said the murder accusation was constituted harassment for his criticism of Philippines leader Gloria Arroyo.
Lacson's lawyer, Alex Avisado said a lower court had issued the arrest warrant but added they would ask the court to withdraw it, and if that fails, to raise the matter to higher courts.
"We have not yet exhausted all legal remedies," Avisado told AFP.
He denied that Lacson had gone into hiding. "He is not hiding. My friend saw Lacson in Hong Kong having dinner," recently, Avisado said without elaborating.
Dacer, a publicist for former president Fidel Ramos, and Dacer's driver were abducted and killed when Lacson was national police chief under then-president Joseph Estrada.
Philippine media has suggested Dacer was killed because of knowledge he held on alleged wrongdoing in the Estrada administration.
Lacson has previously insisted he is innocent, saying the accusations amount to political persecution for his role as a critic of Arroyo.
Estrada, who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of widespread corruption in 2007, has also denied any involvement in the murders.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday it would do its part in effecting the arrest of Senator Panfilo Lacson through the "extradition route."
DFA spokesperson J. Eduardo Malaya, however, said they were still "awaiting guidelines from the Department of Justice on how to proceed on this matter."
"The secretary of justice (Agnes Devanadera) is the chief lawyer of the government," noted Malaya, also DFA assistant secretary.
In a news conference, he said "it may take sometime for the DOJ to formalize its communications with the DFA."
According to Malaya, the Philippines has extradition treaties with only 10 countries—Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Micronesia, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States.
Manila's extradition treaties with Spain and India are "pending concurrence by the Senate," he added.
Meanwhile, Senator Jamby Madrigal, an independent presidential candidate in the May elections, on Friday told the INQUIRER: "Our prayers are with (Lacson)."
Earlier in an interview, Madrigal called Lacson "one of my friends in the Senate."
Although aware that Senator Panfilo Lacson has flown out of the country, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) went to the Senate on Friday afternoon to serve a warrant for his arrest just a few hours after a Manila regional trial court issued it.
Ricardo Diaz, head of the NBI Anti-Terrorism Division, and another agent arrived at the Senate at 3:10 p.m. Friday to serve the warrant on Lacson, who is facing murder charges in the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby'' Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.
Because there are no more sessions in Congress, Diaz was able to serve the arrest warrant on staff members of the offices of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia.
Diaz said the NBI would consider Lacson a fugitive from the law only after he has served the warrant on the senator's ``known addresses'' and he still can’t be found.
Diaz said now that the warrant has been issued, the NBI would start searching for the senator.
He said Lacson was not in Australia, as earlier believed by some senators, because the Australian government notified the NBI that the senator was not there.
“We will seek the help of International Police and other foreign police units,'' Diaz told reporters.
Lawyers for Lacson will petition the Manila trial court that issued the arrest as soon as they get a copy of the order, according to lawyer Alex Avisado.
``We will also request a deferment or suspension of the enforcement of the arrest order,'' said Avisado, who serves as Lacson's legal spokesperson. With reports from Inquirer.net
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