SEN. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday said that he feels relieved that the Supreme Court finally decided to dismiss the 11 counts of murder filed against him in the Kuratong Baleleng case.

Lacson said that he is also happy for the 32 police officers who were charged for their alleged involvement in the summary executions of members of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang in Quezon City in 1995.

“Finally, I feel relieved and that there is no problem anymore. This is the last case,” said Lacson, who pointed out that many of the charged policemen were severely affected by the case.

The sad part, according to Lacson, is that instead of being commended for the successful neutralization of a notorious robbery group, he and his men at Task Force Habagat became victims of a political clash.

He said that the entire Kuratong Baleleng issue is part of a “black propaganda” of political rival of then vice president Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who run for president in the 1998 elections.

These political enemies of Estrada, Lacson said, were the ones who fanned the issue that the Kuratong Baleleng incident was a “rubout.”

Meanwhile, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said that the High Court’s decision is very frustrating, particularly for the relatives of the victims.

“We are saddened with the decision. I know the victims’ families are not happy with the decision,” Dante Jimenez, founding chairman of the VACC, said.

The decision to clear Lacson, Jimenez said, raises more questions than answers.

He likened the Kuratong Baleleng case to the Vizconde massacre case because the persons responsible for the crimes in both cases were not punished.

The High Court on Wednesday affirmed the decision of a trial court dismissing the Kuratong Baleleng case against Lacson and other respondents.

The Court upheld the finding of the Quezon City trial court that there was no new evidence to pursue the murder trial.

Lacson, during his stint as head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, supposedly ordered the summary execution of 11 suspected members of the Kuratong bank robbery gang on May 18, 1995 in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.