Sen. Lacson Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday said that he can prove that Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson is innocent of the double-murder charges against him.

“I can acquit him,” Enrile, a lawyer, told the Kapihan sa Manila, a weekly press forum held at the Manila Hotel.

The catch was that the embattled Lacson may have to wait for the Senate president’s services as a lawyer.

“If I’m not a senator, I am willing to take his case,” said Enrile, who is seeking re-election in the May 2010 elections.

According to him, the double-murder case against Lacson is weak because there is no clear motive behind the crime.

Enrile said that motive is one of the most important requisites for a crime to be considered murder. He added Lacson is better off in custody of the government.

“If you are a fugitive, then you expect the worst condition. So it is better that he is under the custody of the government because the responsibility will belong to the government. Imagine, if a senator is harmed inside his cell while he is in the custody of the government, the government will have a big responsibility,” Enrile explained.

He said that the only thing he could do for Lacson was to see to it that his rights as a person are respected and that no harm will come to the beleaguered senator.

“I don’t think the government has any intention to harm him,” Enrile added.

Lacson’s former classmate, Jess Paredes, told the senator on the run not to worry about anything. “He need not be afraid, he should come back. I believe that there will be a special jail for him,” said Paredes, a senatorial candidate of Ang Kapatiran in the 2010 polls.

A detained Lacson, Enrile said, would remain as senator and would receive allocation from the budget of the Senate.

“But the work that he is performing will have to be assigned to some other senator,” he added.

He said Lacson would be entitled to all the rights and privileges of a senator until he was pronounced guilty by the courts.

Enrile then reiterated his call for his colleague to return to the Philippines and face the murder charges. “That is the only way he can clear his name, out of the control of the courts, he cannot be arraigned, and arraignment is the starting point of the trial that will clear him,” he said.

The same advice was given to Lacson by lawyer Nestor Mantaring, the director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

In a bid to convince the murder suspect to surrender to authorities, Mantaring said that the bureau is ready to communicate with Lacson. 

“We have a two-way process in our justice system. The senator would be afforded the same rights as any accused facing a criminal case,” the NBI chief added.

Mantaring said that Lacson surrendering would give the senator opportunity to defend himself.  “If he is indeed innocent of the charges, he can clear his name by submitting himself to the authorities and defend himself,” he added.

Mantaring said that  it would be better if the lawyers of the accused senator helped in convincing Lacson to turn himself in.

He disclosed that the NBI had asked Hong Kong immigration officials to give the bureau information that would be vital in tracing Lacson.

Mantaring said Lacson is set to be placed in the red notice anytime soon.

“The Interpol has 186 member-countries and the intelligence network of these 186 member-countries will help follow the trail of the senator. Apart from this, we have also started coordinating with our foreign counterparts to help us. We also have coordinated with police attaches of the countries that  are not members of Interpol,” he added.

The NBI chief  said that once Lacson is arrested abroad, the Philippines may  take the extradition or deportation option to bring the senator back to the Philippines.

A lawyer for Lacson, Alex Avisado, said that Lacson is not yet a fugitive because there are legal remedies open to him, including appealing for reconsideration of the arrest order against his client.

Avisado added that any decision against the senator could be elevated to the Supreme Court, and that only when there was a final decision for his arrest could Lacson be considered a fugitive.

But Enrile said, “Once the warrant is issued, you are a fugitive.”

Lacson left the country on January 5, two days before his indictment and has not returned since.

The principal suspect in the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver Emmanuel Corbito, he had claimed that under the Arroyo administration, he would not get a fair trial in the double-murder case against him.

Camille Bianca Lopez, Ruben D. Manahan 4th and Efren L. Danao