Lacson flees RP
By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) Updated February 03, 2010 12:00 AM
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MANILA, Philippines - In a move that critics interpreted as a sign of guilt, Sen. Panfilo Lacson admitted
yesterday that he had left the country to escape “harassment” from the Department of Justice (DOJ) amid
reports that he would be arrested for the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.
“As I had correctly suspected, the harassment by the DOJ upon the order of Malacañang will never stop. That’
s exactly the reason why I left the country. I am a victim of a conspiracy of whispers between Mrs. Arroyo and
her stooge in the Department of Justice,” Lacson said in a one-page statement.
“For now, my concern is my own personal safety and security. I will not allow Mrs. Arroyo and her cohorts in
the DOJ the pleasure of seeing my life miserable and in danger. This is one case that I will dispute the
argument – flight is an indication of guilt. I am not guilty but I cannot risk putting my life and security at the
mercy of that evil conspiracy,” he said.
Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, left for Hong Kong last Jan. 5, a few days before the DOJ
recommended that he be charged for the Nov. 24, 2000 murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and
driver Emmanuel Corbito.
He has repeatedly denied his involvement in the murders.
In his statement, the opposition senator said his role in exposing various scandals and other alleged
abuses of the Arroyo administration is the main reason why the present administration had a political
vendetta against him.
“Even the most tenuous of evidence to justify their own interpretation of probable cause was used against
me to satisfy their political vendetta against my person. From the Jose Pidal scandal, jueteng payola, ‘Hello,
Garci’ election cheating controversy, to the ZTE and fertilizer scams, and many more abuses committed by
Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo against the Filipino people, where I played the leading role in exposing, are mostly the
reasons why I am being harassed no end,” Lacson said.
He also appealed to the judge handling his case not to succumb to political pressure by judging the case
based on evidence and merit.
“I am hoping, as I was told that the judge handling the case is one who does not easily succumb to
pressure and is a stickler for rules, will remain as such and decide the case fairly and based on its merits,”
he said.
Before leaving for abroad, Lacson designated majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri as officer-in-charge of the
Senate committee on ways and means, which he chaired, to dispose of committee reports and any other
pending matters while he is absent.
Zubiri made the manifestation yesterday before the plenary.
Lacson has been conspicuously absent since the resumption of session last Jan. 18.
No parliamentary immunity
His unceremonious flight opened up questions on whether he can invoke parliamentary immunity in his
case, which Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile readily answered.
“He will not enjoy parliamentary immunity (because) the penalty is more than six years. So if we are not in
session or even if we are in session, he could be arrested,” said Enrile, a veteran lawyer.
He also noted that the double murder charges are non-bailable and do not fall under immunity.
Only cases punishable by six years or less can be covered by immunity.
Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Joker Arroyo said they have received reports that Lacson already fled to
Australia.
“I would only assume that he goes to a country where there is no extradition,” Arroyo said.
Sources said Lacson cannot possibly go to the United States where his visa has been cancelled.
Enrile explained that he would not allow lawmen to arrest Lacson while senators are having session and
that it will be up to authorities to locate the senator once a warrant of arrest is issued against him.
He said he had given Lacson travel authority during the Christmas break but he forgot the details of the trip.
“Well, he is still abroad. I do not know where he is. I covered him with a travel authority when he requested to
go abroad during the recess. It’s in the record, I cannot recall the span of time he requested,” he said,
adding that the last communication he had with Lacson was through a letter submitted to his office upon the
resumption of session last Jan. 18.
“I received a letter from him that he cannot attend the sessions. He did not cite the reasons. Yeah, he is
marked absent,” the Senate president said. “That was the last time (he communicated).”
Preemptive move
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the other hand, said Lacson can invoke his immunity from arrest while
he is in the Senate.
“But the moment that he steps out of the Senate, he can be arrested. That is his problem. That’s what an
ordinary citizen would do. If you were in the shoes of Senator Lacson, you don’t want the arresting officers or
the members of the military to serve the warrant on you especially when it’s a weekend because the bonding
companies are closed,” Santiago said.
She said that Lacson cannot even post a bond “so they can drag him to jail anytime,” that is why she
suspects that the move was done to evade arrest.
“His absence can only be answered by that phenomenon. It’s not necessary for him to prepare his defense
by himself, he has his lawyers to do that for him. So actually it is to avoid being picked up in the middle of the
night,” Santiago noted, adding that the sad state of the penitentiary system in the country may have also
triggered Lacson’s decision to leave the country.
“Jails in the Philippines are not exactly home sweet home. Well, there’s very real jeopardy and you might be
subjected to violence by people who just delight in beating up new inmates. They do not respect position or
authority or status there,” the senator said.
“Many other horrible things can happen in jails. If I were Senator Lacson, I would do the same thing because
this is non-bailable,” said Santiago.
Friendly advice
But Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said that his father’s former ally should face the music
as he and former President Estrada did when they were charged with plunder several years ago.
“We are all friends here. Well, first of all, if he has nothing to hide, I advise him to come out in the open and
not to fear anything,” said Estrada, who was detained for two years.
“It’s not easy to be incarcerated. President Erap and I were jailed. But if you have done something you
should face the court. He should be given his day in court,” said Estrada, who has attacked Lacson before
the plenary after the latter insinuated that his father may have had a hand in the double murder case.
Well-timed departure
Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Lacson has been placed on the watch-list
upon DOJ’s recommendation.
In an interview at the Senate after the bicameral discussions on the new Immigration Law of 2009, Libanan
said Lacson left via Cathay Pacific flight CX 904 to Hong Kong last Jan. 5, two days before the DOJ included
him as an accused in the double murder charges.
Prior to this, Libanan wrongly announced that a hold departure order has been issued against Lacson about
a week after his departure for Hong Kong.
But he was corrected by an aide who reminded him that no HDO has been issued against the senator.
Libanan clarified that Lacson is under the BI’s “watch-list,” meaning the agency is mandated to notify the
DOJ regarding the departure or arrival of a person.
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, on the other hand, said there was nothing wrong with Lacson flying to
Hong Kong last Jan. 5.
“He (Lacson) is not yet a fugitive. He is still a tourist,” Devanadera told reporters.
She explained that the senator did not violate any law when he left the country two days before the case was
filed but he becomes a fugitive when the court issues a warrant for his arrest and he goes into hiding.
Devanadera, however, said that she expects the trial court handling the double murder case to decide on
whether or not it would issue a warrant against Lacson within the week.
She said the National Bureau of Investigation would coordinate with the Interpol to serve the warrant if the
court orders the arrest of the senator.
“He will have to go through the same process accorded to others who have been issued with warrant of
arrest,” she said.
Devanadera also gave assurance that Lacson’s indictment is not politically motivated. She said the DOJ
conducted preliminary investigation on the complaint filed by the daughters of Dacer “based merely on
evidence presented to the investigating panel.”
She also denied the senator’s allegation that the DOJ was just persecuting him upon orders of the Palace.
Malacañang, for its part, also dismissed Lacson’s allegations and insisted that he should face justice if he
was truly innocent.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar denied Lacson’s claim that the administration was out to harm
him over his exposés.
“To the best of my knowledge, Senator Lacson is facing charges filed by the DOJ following judicial process,”
Olivar said in a telephone interview. “Now that he is making all these allegations, that obligates him to come
out with evidence to prove them.”
“To further link the President to all these, that only further obligates him to do so,” he said. “These are
statements made by a man simply fleeing justice.” - Edu Punay, Paolo Romero
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Melo: Jammers no cause for alarm
By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) Updated February 03, 2010 12:00 AM
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MANILA, Philippines - There is no way that jamming devices could disrupt the holding of elections on May
10, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo said yesterday.
Melo said there are not enough jamming devices that could interfere with the transmission of voting results.
Melo told reporters that the so-called cell phone signal jamming devices are expensive and not everyone
could afford them just to ruin this year’s vote.
“Our machines, right after voting, would immediately generate the first eight copies, then additional 22
copies to complete the 30 (copies) required. Even if you jammed (the transmission), we already have the
evidence of the votes counted,” he said.
Melo said disrupting the transmission is not worth the effort since it does not give an assurance that those
behind the move would emerge the winner.
“You’ll use jamming devices and yet, you don’t know if the results will favor you,” he said.
The Comelec is now coordinating with the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) and Bureau of
Customs to investigate reports that some 5,000 jamming devices had been smuggled into the country.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez refused to reveal the source of the information but said they have
called on the NTC to have companies with jamming devices register in the open.
“We can ask owners and operators of these jammers to register their devices before election day so that we
know exactly where they are on election day and what they will be used for,” he said.
A signal jammer is a device often used by law enforcement agencies to disrupt radio signals between cell
sites and mobile phones.
They block a radio-operated device, such as a cell phone, and prevent it from sending a signal to trigger an
explosive device.
Jimenez stressed the jamming device has its legal purpose.
“It is common knowledge that people use these jammers for a variety of lawful applications. It is like the gun
ban, if you are a law-abiding citizen then you will register it. If you’re not, then obviously the gun ban does not
mean anything to you. It is one of the measures that we will undertake to make sure that on election day, the
jammers that we know about are accounted for,” Jimenez said.
Concerns
Malacañang, on the other hand, expressed concern over the smuggling of thousands of signal jammers.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said Malacañang is hoping that such reports are false even as
authorities are verifying if indeed the signal jammers were smuggled into the country.
“The government is ready to help the Comelec on this matter. We are not taking this threat lightly,” Olivar said.
While the reports are not yet considered a national security issue, Olivar said “it’s certain something like that
would rise to the level of the highest priority national interest.”
“What we do not take seriously is the absurd speculation that all of this somehow has something to do with
the administration and some nefarious concocted conspiracy for which no evidence has ever been adduced
and no purpose has ever been offered, and no rhyme or reason has ever been advanced,” he said.
“It’s still a developing story so let’s be on top of this,” Olivar said.
Lawmakers led by Speaker Prospero Nograles called on the Comelec to identify the people behind the
smuggling of the cell phone signal jammers.
“If the Comelec has any information on this, then they should tell us who they are. These things don’t fall
from the sky. We have to alert our law enforcement agencies on this,” Nograles said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, for his part, warned Comelec would end up helpless in preventing
possible sabotage of the May elections with the spread of the jammers.
“These cheap handheld cell phone jamming devices are even sold online and for relatively cheap prices,”
Ocampo pointed out.
“(The) most basic type for pranksters sell for $79. A professional device costs $219. If the modus operandi
is to completely disrupt the polls to justify the declaration of a failure of elections, all that’s needed is P18
million to P50 million for 5,000 units,” he said.
Militant groups claimed “some very powerful interest groups” are behind the reported smuggling of the high
tech devices.
Without mentioning any names, Renato Reyes of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the
people behind the reported smuggling of signal jammers “have a lot of money and would want to undertake
massive cheating or push the failure of elections.”
“Not many people can afford such a huge shipment of cell phone jamming devices. At $300 per piece, 5,000
pieces would amount to $1.5 million or some P69 million. That’s a huge amount of money. Who would have
the means and motive to make such procurement?” Reyes said.
Reyes urged the Bureau of Customs and the NTC to unmask the buyers of these equipment, “even those
coming from government.”
“The magnitude of the procurement seems to indicate that the buyer may not simply be a private entity,” he
said.
Plan B
With the threat of cell phone jammers now entering the picture, Bayan said the Comelec and Smartmatic
might not have enough transmission options on election day.
The group noted the admission of Comelec director and spokesman James Jimenez that Smartmatic has
only procured 5,000 Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite devices. These tools will be used as
an option in case transmission of election results through cell sites fails, like in one Comelec field test
where there was failure to transmit results through GSM.
Bayan further quoted Jimenez as saying during a voters’ forum at the House of Representatives that
Smartmatic is trying to procure additional satellite devices in time for election day. Some 80,000 polling
precincts are anticipated to use the new automated election system.
But Reyes said the 5,000 BGAN devices might not be enough to thwart “a massive attack” on the system by
cell phone jammers.
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, vice presidential candidate of the United Opposition (UNO), claimed the
smuggling of the jamming devices is part of the plot to create conditions for a failure of elections.
“While the Comelec says that they still have the alternative of satellite transmission, I believe the poll body
should not be complacent. If these election cheats saw the opportunity to disrupt the transmission of votes
through cell phone jammers, I am sure they are looking for ways to disrupt satellite transmissions as well,”
Binay said.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday urged the Comelec to prepare a
fallback position in the event that cell phone signal jammer devices would be used to block the electronic
transmission of votes.
Media Office director Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III reiterated the CBCP statement calling on the Comelec to
prepare for a fallback position in the event there are technical and logistical glitches.
“The news about the jamming... this is a serious problem,” Quitorio said.
Quitorio suggested to the Comelec to revert back to manual counting and transmit the results later by
satellite. -With Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Katherine Adraneda, Evelyn Macairan
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