ERAP'S PRIVATE ARMY

AFTER Joseph "Erap" Estrada was elected president in 1998, he stopped his predecessor's six-
year campaign to disband the 560 "private armies" that had proliferated all over the
Philippines. Instead, Estrada added one more “private army” to the list - but one that was
crafted from within the ranks of the Philippine military establishment, an elite unit that would go
after his political enemies and engage in “black operations.”

The activities of Estrada’s “private army” were exposed last month when Philippine National
Police (PNP) Col. Cezar Mancao executed a sworn affidavit in Ft. Lauderdale , Florida on
February 14, 2009 detailing his personal knowledge of the execution of publicist Bubby Dacer
and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, on November 24, 2000.

As Mancao explained it, one of the first acts of Estrada after he was elected president was to
create the “Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF)” in July of 1998 and to
appoint Gen. Panfilo Lacson as its head. Lacson then appointed PNP Col. Michael Ray Aquino as
Head of the Operations Division, PNP Col. Teofilo Vina as Chief, Task Group-Visayas and Mancao
as Chief, Task Group-Luzon. Mancao thereafter appointed PNP Col. Glenn G. Dumlao as his
deputy for operations.

Although Dumlao was under Mancao’s command, he was given orders by Aquino to “conduct
discrete Background Investigation on a certain personality” which turned out to be media man
Bubby Dacer. He was instructed to monitor Dacer's visitors and to surreptitiously enter his office
at the Manila Hotel and purloin whatever documents could be taken. Following his orders, Col.
Dumlao proceeded to the Manila Hotel, posed as a hotel guest, and checked in using the alias
“Irwin Chavez.”

In his February 14, 2009 affidavit, Mancao wrote: “While I was opposed to Aquino’s use of my
personnel, there was nothing that I could do then to prevent him because he occupied a
position higher than myself in terms of designation at the PAOCTF organizational hierarchy.
Additionally, these special operations were under the direction of Lacson as PAOCTF head.
However, I still instructed my men at Task Group Luzon to bring to my attention orders
regarding special operations not directly coming from me and not to be keen in performing
operations outside of the PAOCTF mandate, especially illegal ones.”

Why was Dacer a special target of the PAOCTF?

Although Dacer had actively campaigned for Estrada in the 1978 presidential elections, he
incurred Lacson’s ire because he openly opposed Lacson’s appointment as head of the
Philippine National Police (PNP), writing a letter to Estrada noting Lacson’s “ruthless abuse of
power in pursuit of his goals” and “because many foresee a police state” under Lacson.

Despite Dacer’s opposition, Estrada promoted Lacson as Director-General of the PNP on
November 16, 1999. Lacson, in turn, appointed Col. Aquino as the Deputy Director of the PNP-
Intelligence Group (“PNP-IG”), the country’s counterintelligence agency. Col. Aquino later
served as the Acting Officer-in-Charge of the PNP-IG while still maintaining his concurrent
position with the elite “Black Ops” unit known as the PAOCTF.

Dacer incurred Estrada’s “severe displeasure” because of repeated stories appearing in Emil
Jurado’s columns linking Dacer to destabilization attempts against the Estrada administration.
On February 16, 2000, Dacer wrote Estrada informing the president that in order to
“permanently take myself out of the line of fire,” he was “now planning to close my PR business
and finally retire…despite the tears of my children…who feel that I was unjustly taking the fall
for other people’s sins.”

In September of 2000, Dacer met with two of Estrada’s closest cronies, Butch Tenorio, the head
of the Philippine Amusement Games Corporation (PAGCOR), and Dante Tan, the head of Best
World Resources, to assure them that he was not involved in any effort to destabilize the
government of President Estrada.

Tenorio and Tan thereafter reported their conversation with Dacer to Lacson. Soon after that
meeting, Lacson convened a group of PAOCTF operatives in October of 2000 with instructions
“to silence Dacer” after a “clearance from Malacanang was given.” According to Mancao, Tenorio
and Tan were tasked to handle the expenses of the “operation”; Col. Dumlao and his
assistants were ordered to handle the monitoring, surveillance and abduction of the “target
individual”; and Task Group-Visayas Chief P/Supt. Col. Teofilo Vina was directed to take care of
the “final phase.”

When Mancao learned about Aquino’s orders to Dumlao, he and Dumlao went to Aquino’s office
to inquire about the matter. “Aquino informed us that these “special operations” had been
previously approved and cleared by Lacson and by Malacanang itself. Dumlao mentioned to me
that the “special operations” had for its target a certain media man critical of Erap, whom they
referred to as “Delta”. Being in the nature of a special operation, I decided not to inquire
further. For purposes of clarity, PAOCTF’s “special operations” then pertained to operations that
did not follow the normal channels of command and did not come under the purview of its
mandate.”

On November 21, 2000, Bubby Dacer was summoned to Malacanang to meet with Estrada. At
the meeting, Estrada informed Dacer that his intelligence operatives had proof that Dacer had
been actively working with former President Ramos and other opposition figures to have him
impeached. Dacer strongly denied the charges but Estrada could not be placated. Estrada
severely berated Dacer during their meeting, and the latter left the Palace in fear of his life.

In his affidavit, Mancao recalled a fateful conversation: “I heard Lacson order Aquino to
liquidate Berroya, his public-known nemesis, saying: “Noy, tirahin nyo na si Bero.” Lacson said
this while we were on board his car en route to a Japanese restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan ,
for lunch. I was seated at the front seat of the car then driven by Sgt. Oximoso (“Oxy” as we
usually called him), while Aquino and Lacson sat at the back. Aquino responded to Lacson that
he intends to neutralize or liquidate Delta first because Erap was already peeved at him,
saying: “Tapusin muna namin si Delta, Sir, kasi naiirita na si Bigote sa kaniya.” (“We’ll finish with
Delta first, Sir, because the mustachioed one is irritated with him”).

To be continued.

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