By MARIO B. CASAYURAN
Manila Bulletin
“I lived the life of a prisoner outside a prison cell”
MANILA, Philippines – Two former justice secretaries drove me to become a fugitive from injustice.
This was how Senator Panfilo M. Lacson described his decision to go into hiding for 14 months.
“The unvarnished truth is – I was made to suffer a crime I did not commit. Two former secretaries of justice (Raul Gonzalez and Agnes Devanadera) drove me to become a fugitive from injustice,’’ he said in a press conference, the first time he went public since he went into hiding in January, 2010, to evade arrest in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.
Lacson added that he never felt that the Aquino administration is giving him “a fair shake,” saying his being a supposed ally of President Benigno S. Aquino III could only be read in the newspapers.
“Do I consider myself an ally of the administration? Sa diyaryo ko lang nababasa (I only read such things in the newspapers),” Lacson said. He, however, stressed that from what he had heard and read, the President is sincere in his anti-corruption campaign.
“I never felt I was given a fair shake by the new administration,” he stressed.
He said that while he was in hiding, the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) never slackened their attempts to look for him.
Lacson – arch critic of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whom he accused as the one behind his miseries – expressed this sentiment when he answered reporters’ questions during a press conference at the Senate building after he returned to the Philippines last Saturday through the Cebu gateway.
Lacson finally came out of hiding as there is no longer impediment after the Court of Appeals issued a final and executory decision thumbing down the double murder case filed against him and voided the warrant for his arrest issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court.
In his own way, Lacson helped in the successful presidential bid of President Aquino.
After self-reflections during his life as a fugitive in places abroad he refused to identify, Lacson said that “I am more inclined to just forget and forgive… that is my state of mind as I go on with my duties as a senator and I have obligations to serve.”
Asked whether the new administration was a factor in his return to the Philippines to help in convicting Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in the forthcoming impeachment trial at the Senate, Lacson simply said “never.”
He refused to comment on who could have helped and supported him during his life as a fugitive and where he hid during all those months.
He also denied seeking the help or meeting Sen. Manuel Villar in Dubai last Friday.
Asked who could be the mastermind behind the Dacer-Corbito double killing, Lacson said he knows the mastermind but “it is a matter of evidence.’’
Lacson admitted that evading arrest might be “legally difficult to justify, if not hardly defensible.”
He also conceded that going underground is politically incorrect.
As the impeachment trial of Gutierrez approaches, Lacson emphasized that he is “not a shoo-in judge to vote against the Ombudsman.”
Lacson said he agrees with the position of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that senator-judges should be guided by evidence and the rules of evidence in judging the guilt or innocence of Gutierrez.
Asked how he was able to successfully evade arrest although the International Police (Interpol) had sought him out, Lacson, a Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduate former Philippine National Police director general, replied: “I managed to keep my head down as it was a day to day struggle since there are many Filipinos all over the world.”
Days before the Manila RTC issued a warrant for his arrest, Lacson went into hiding on Jan. 5, 2010.
During his 14-month experience as a fugitive, Lacson said he had been subjected to the vitriol of arrogance and hatred by my old and new detractors.
“I have been humiliated, unfairly eviscerated of my dignity and personal honor, even as I am humbled by an experience so surreal I never imagined could happen. Every single day that I was underground, the crucible stared each time I opened my eyes,” he said.
He said he had lived the life of a prisoner outside a prison cell and the “only difference from one who suffers in confinement is that I could, on my own will, navigate my movements using the best of my instinctive compass.”
Lacson said he felt bad that he was told that Department of Justice prosecutors “were allowed to shred the rules on evidence in favor of satisfying the last-ditch effort to pin him down.
“On a personal note, there were frequent moments that I felt the persecution had never stopped even after a new administration took over the reins of power. All I was asking for is a fair share of justice, correct its miscarriage, and trim the excesses of the past regime,’’ he added.
He also asked the Dacer and Corbito families not to close their eyes on blaming him because the mastermind is out there.
He said he decided to go into hiding because he did not want to place himself “under the jurisdiction of a court whose judicial determination of probable cause and the subsequent issuance of a warrant of arrest I was questioning before a higher court of the land.”
Asked if he would again go abroad during the current 45-day recess that started Monday, Lacson said “no” because he has no passport.
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