The Manila court handling a high-profile double murder case subpoenaed on Thursday two journalists to shed light on their interviews with former police officer Cezar Mancao II, a key personality implicated in the November 2000 killing of veteran publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito.
Defense lawyer Alex Avisado said Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 Presiding Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez subpoenaed GMA News reporter Maki Pulido and ABS-CBN News anchor Ted Failon (Teodoro Etong) to talk about the interviews they supposedly had with Mancao in 2008.
“Pina-subpoena ng Korte si kasamang Ted Failon at Maki Pulido para tumestigo tungkol sa mga interviews na ginawa nila kay Mancao ," said Avisado, who is the lawyer of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, tagged as one of the brains behind the twin killings.
On Thursday, the defense panel cross-examined Mancao, who Avisado said was “nagkabuhol-buhol" (got tangled in his own words).
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But Mancao’s lawyer countered Avisado’s claim. “Yung defense nga ang mukhang nagkabuhol-buhol (It was the defense that appeared muddled)," said lawyer Ferdinand Topacio in an interview with GMANews.TV.
Avisado said Mancao made a counter-affidavit in 2001 that is different from his most recent affidavit executed on Feb. 13, 2009, where he pointed to former President Joseph Estrada and to Lacson, then Philippine National Police chief, as masterminds in the crime.
Topacio said Mancao indicated that he was “under pressure, under extreme duress" in 2001, when he executed the affidavit that made no mention of Lacson or Estrada.
Dacer and Corbito were abducted and killed on Nov. 24, 2000. The crime was allegedly carried out by members of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, which was concurrently headed by then PNP chief Lacson.
Asked whether the prosecution has any qualms about having Failon and Pulido subpoenaed, Topacio said: “Wala kaming tutol na ipatawag sila (We have no complaints), but now is not the time to produce them."
Topacio also said he hopes Pulido and Failon would come out with the proper tapes of their interviews with Mancao.
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