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MANILA, Philippines—After more than a year of hiding, expect Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to surface “soon,” one of his lawyers said Monday.
Lacson hurdled the only remaining legal obstacle to his freedom on Friday when the Court of Appeals ruled that the arrest warrant issued against him in connection with the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, was already void and should not be carried out by authorities.
“The warrant has been clearly nullified, only if it would be reinstated by the Supreme Court … We can expect Senator Lacson to come out soon,” his lawyer, Alex Avisado, told the Inquirer by phone.
“There is no more legal impediment for the senator to come out because all authorities are enjoined not to implement the arrest warrant,” he added.
In its 16-page ruling, the court said any public officer who would arrest and detain Lacson “may be criminally liable for arbitrary detention.”
Lacson should now be allowed “to perform his job in the Senate,” the court added.
“The threats to arrest petitioner would not only be a violation of his constitutional right to liberty but would also be a deprivation of the sovereign right of the people, particularly the millions of electorates who voted him to office the right of representation in the Senate.”
The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Juan Enriquez Jr. and Isaias Dicdican.
With the ruling, Avisado said the International Police (Interpol) “red” notice should be lifted. Subjects of such a notice can be arrested immediately at any place in the world.
Sought for comment, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she had yet to read the resolution.
However, she said if the court ruled that the nullification of the arrest warrant was “immediately final and executory, there was no longer any basis for going after Lacson.
It should also be a “signal” for the lawmaker “to already come out,” De Lima said.
Earlier, Lacson’s lawyers had asked the appellate court to clarify whether the arrest warrant against the senator had already been lifted after it ruled last month that there was not enough evidence for him to be charged for the Dacer-Corbito murders.
Clarification
The motion for clarification stemmed from statements of De Lima and the Dacer family that Lacson could still be arrested despite the court’s ruling.
Had it not been for De Lima’s declaration that she still considered the warrants valid, he would have surfaced earlier, Lacson had said in a statement.
The senator was reported to have fled the country in January 2010 after the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest for the murders of Dacer and Corbito.
Lacson claimed he was being persecuted by the previous administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for exposing corruption cases against her and her family. Arroyo is now a legislator, representing Pampanga’s second district in the House of Representatives.
“After a painstaking evaluation of the arguments of the parties, taking into account the pertinent law and jurisprudence, we rule that the arrest warrants issued against petitioner [Lacson] cannot be implemented unless it is reinstated by the Supreme Court,” said the appellate court’s special sixth division.
The division also denied the appeal of the Dacer family for the justices to reconsider their decision finding no probable cause against Lacson and the request of former police official Cezar Mancao II to be allowed to be a party in the case.
In February, the Court of Appeals resolved that Lacson should not be charged with the murders of Dacer and Corbito, saying that Mancao, who implicated the senator, was not a credible witness.
Pivotal issue
But the question on the validity of the arrest warrant was considered by the court as the “pivotal issue” in its resolution.
It said that if the nullification of the arrest warrant was “not immediately executory” as argued by the Dacer family, “we will have a grotesque and ludicrous situation where the accused could be arrested and imprisoned despite the nullification of the arrests warrant by a higher court.”
The lawyer of the Dacer family, Demetrio Custodio, remained unfazed by the latest legal victory of Lacson.
“I consider it a temporary setback as it is the Supreme Court that would speak with finality. It’s not the Court of Appeals,” Custodio told the Inquirer by phone.
He said he would certainly elevate the case to the high tribunal, adding that the lifting of the arrest warrant was not yet final.
“Assuming he (Lacson) comes out and the Supreme Court reverses the appellate court, would he go into hiding again?” Custodio asked.
Same question
It was the same question raised by Mancao’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio.
“What if we appeal to the Supreme Court and [it] says, yes there is probable cause. What is Senator Lacson going to do again if the warrant is not lifted? Is he going to go into hiding again?” Topacio said.
“I don’t think there should be any movement in the lifting of the warrant until and unless the Supreme Court issues a final and definitive ruling on the validity of the warrant,” he said.
He added: “It is not for the Court of Appeals to say it is executory. It is for the Supreme Court to say it is executory.”
Avisado, however, said the senator’s camp would not “speculate” on what the high court would do. “We are taking it one day at a time. But one thing is true, Senator Lacson is free,” he said.
Senate job
Sen. Franklin Drilon said Lacson “should now surface because the court has made it clear that the warrant of arrest cannot be served anymore.”
The Supreme Court could always review the appellate court’s ruling, Drilon told reporters on Monday, but “as of now the warrant of arrest has been quashed, the criminal case has been dismissed.”
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the government should heed the court’s ruling “so that Senator Lacson can come back and perform his duties.”
“We do not know if the government will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, but that should be a signal to the government that in the appreciation of the appellate court, the evidence against Senator Lacson is weak,” Enrile said.
Final judgment
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a former trial court judge, said this would be a “final judgment” on the case.
“Only the Court of Appeals can make final judgment of fact. Questions of law can be elevated to the Supreme Court. In this case, it will no longer be elevated because the Supreme Court will decline. In effect this is the final judgment,” Santiago told reporters.
“Senator Lacson is free to come and attend the sessions of the Senate without fear of arrest,” she said. “It will not go up to the Supreme Court unless a question of fact is intermingled with a question of law. But I don’t see any.”
Drilon said the government prosecutors and the Department of Justice could always meet to discuss their next course of action, but he said the court “warned that nobody should serve the warrant of arrest under pain of arbitrary detention.” With a report from TJ Burgonio
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Lacson hurdled the only remaining legal obstacle to his freedom on Friday when the Court of Appeals ruled that the arrest warrant issued against him in connection with the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, was already void and should not be carried out by authorities.
“The warrant has been clearly nullified, only if it would be reinstated by the Supreme Court … We can expect Senator Lacson to come out soon,” his lawyer, Alex Avisado, told the Inquirer by phone.
“There is no more legal impediment for the senator to come out because all authorities are enjoined not to implement the arrest warrant,” he added.
In its 16-page ruling, the court said any public officer who would arrest and detain Lacson “may be criminally liable for arbitrary detention.”
Lacson should now be allowed “to perform his job in the Senate,” the court added.
“The threats to arrest petitioner would not only be a violation of his constitutional right to liberty but would also be a deprivation of the sovereign right of the people, particularly the millions of electorates who voted him to office the right of representation in the Senate.”
The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Juan Enriquez Jr. and Isaias Dicdican.
With the ruling, Avisado said the International Police (Interpol) “red” notice should be lifted. Subjects of such a notice can be arrested immediately at any place in the world.
Sought for comment, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she had yet to read the resolution.
However, she said if the court ruled that the nullification of the arrest warrant was “immediately final and executory, there was no longer any basis for going after Lacson.
It should also be a “signal” for the lawmaker “to already come out,” De Lima said.
Earlier, Lacson’s lawyers had asked the appellate court to clarify whether the arrest warrant against the senator had already been lifted after it ruled last month that there was not enough evidence for him to be charged for the Dacer-Corbito murders.
Clarification
The motion for clarification stemmed from statements of De Lima and the Dacer family that Lacson could still be arrested despite the court’s ruling.
Had it not been for De Lima’s declaration that she still considered the warrants valid, he would have surfaced earlier, Lacson had said in a statement.
The senator was reported to have fled the country in January 2010 after the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest for the murders of Dacer and Corbito.
Lacson claimed he was being persecuted by the previous administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for exposing corruption cases against her and her family. Arroyo is now a legislator, representing Pampanga’s second district in the House of Representatives.
“After a painstaking evaluation of the arguments of the parties, taking into account the pertinent law and jurisprudence, we rule that the arrest warrants issued against petitioner [Lacson] cannot be implemented unless it is reinstated by the Supreme Court,” said the appellate court’s special sixth division.
The division also denied the appeal of the Dacer family for the justices to reconsider their decision finding no probable cause against Lacson and the request of former police official Cezar Mancao II to be allowed to be a party in the case.
In February, the Court of Appeals resolved that Lacson should not be charged with the murders of Dacer and Corbito, saying that Mancao, who implicated the senator, was not a credible witness.
Pivotal issue
But the question on the validity of the arrest warrant was considered by the court as the “pivotal issue” in its resolution.
It said that if the nullification of the arrest warrant was “not immediately executory” as argued by the Dacer family, “we will have a grotesque and ludicrous situation where the accused could be arrested and imprisoned despite the nullification of the arrests warrant by a higher court.”
The lawyer of the Dacer family, Demetrio Custodio, remained unfazed by the latest legal victory of Lacson.
“I consider it a temporary setback as it is the Supreme Court that would speak with finality. It’s not the Court of Appeals,” Custodio told the Inquirer by phone.
He said he would certainly elevate the case to the high tribunal, adding that the lifting of the arrest warrant was not yet final.
“Assuming he (Lacson) comes out and the Supreme Court reverses the appellate court, would he go into hiding again?” Custodio asked.
Same question
It was the same question raised by Mancao’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio.
“What if we appeal to the Supreme Court and [it] says, yes there is probable cause. What is Senator Lacson going to do again if the warrant is not lifted? Is he going to go into hiding again?” Topacio said.
“I don’t think there should be any movement in the lifting of the warrant until and unless the Supreme Court issues a final and definitive ruling on the validity of the warrant,” he said.
He added: “It is not for the Court of Appeals to say it is executory. It is for the Supreme Court to say it is executory.”
Avisado, however, said the senator’s camp would not “speculate” on what the high court would do. “We are taking it one day at a time. But one thing is true, Senator Lacson is free,” he said.
Senate job
Sen. Franklin Drilon said Lacson “should now surface because the court has made it clear that the warrant of arrest cannot be served anymore.”
The Supreme Court could always review the appellate court’s ruling, Drilon told reporters on Monday, but “as of now the warrant of arrest has been quashed, the criminal case has been dismissed.”
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the government should heed the court’s ruling “so that Senator Lacson can come back and perform his duties.”
“We do not know if the government will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, but that should be a signal to the government that in the appreciation of the appellate court, the evidence against Senator Lacson is weak,” Enrile said.
Final judgment
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a former trial court judge, said this would be a “final judgment” on the case.
“Only the Court of Appeals can make final judgment of fact. Questions of law can be elevated to the Supreme Court. In this case, it will no longer be elevated because the Supreme Court will decline. In effect this is the final judgment,” Santiago told reporters.
“Senator Lacson is free to come and attend the sessions of the Senate without fear of arrest,” she said. “It will not go up to the Supreme Court unless a question of fact is intermingled with a question of law. But I don’t see any.”
Drilon said the government prosecutors and the Department of Justice could always meet to discuss their next course of action, but he said the court “warned that nobody should serve the warrant of arrest under pain of arbitrary detention.” With a report from TJ Burgonio
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