PALACE TO LACSON: TOP DILG POST NOT VACANT
MANILA, APRIL 27, 2011 (STAR) By Delon Porcalla - There is no vacancy in the top post in the Department of the Interior and Local Government for Sen. Panfilo Lacson, according to Malacañang.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters yesterday that President Aquino himself had made this clear in a phone call last Monday.
"There was a text (message) from GMA-7 precisely on that question if there was an offer made and the President said the position is not vacant," Lacierda said. He said the call came after Aquino's meeting with Lacson.
Lacierda is identified with the Balay faction in the Cabinet, which counts as members Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a Liberal Party stalwart who is also closely associated with former senator Manuel Roxas II, the designated chief presidential troubleshooter who lost the vice presidential race in May 2010.
"The President has already declared he is happy with his (Robredo's) performance, but he has not made any comment further than that. So I would have to ask the President," he said. Robredo is still in an acting capacity.
While he would not be surprised to see Lacson tapped for a Cabinet post after his term in 2013, Lacierda said the President would be clear in his position on the matter.
"President Aquino is a consultative type of person. He consults a number of people he believes who can give him good advice. And it's not remote for him to ask Sen. Ping Lacson because he was formerly Philippine National Police chief," Lacierda said.
"So it's not something that we would be surprised if he (Aquino) asked him because he's (Lacson) an expert there. But with respect to the details of the discussion between the President and Sen. Lacson, we are not privy to that," he maintained.
He also lauded Lacson for declaring that while no job offer was made by the President, he would always be willing to grab any opportunity to serve the country.
"And that's a good response of a civic spirited person – to answer the call of servanthood, to answer the call of government when you're asked," he said.
Lacierda also said the President has publicly commended Robredo, particularly for his department's quick response to the landslide in Compostela Valley that left three people dead and more than a dozen missing.
"Yes, he (President Aquino) stated so publicly (his approval of Robredo) and like for instance what happened in Compostela, he (Robredo) was on top of that along with Secretary of Defense Voltaire Gazmin," he said.
EARLIER REPORT DURING 2010 NOY-MAR CAMPAIGN
Roxas' support of Lacson may be costly for Noynoy-Mar ticket
Sen. Mar Roxas may not know it, but his seemingly innocent stance of testifying before the Department of Justice (DOJ) to support the defense of his colleague Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is accused of ordering the killing of publicist Salvador"Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000, may cost him some votes in 2010 elections.
Roxas confirmed Lacson's claim that they were together in the U.S. in September 2000 attending the U.N. Millennium summit in New York, the latter then the director general and chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Whether it is innocence or plain foolhardiness, Roxas should realize that it is his word against principal suspects Cezar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao, who executed affidavits pointing at Estrada and Lacson being behind the alleged killings.
Roxas is also up against the word of the many Filipinos who gets revolted thinking of the senseless killings and tend to side with Mancao and Dumlao's confession of the truth.
It would have been a different story if Lacson's record during his stint with the PNP was pure and immaculate. Surely, Roxas knows it wasn't, as Juan de la Cruz is aware it was full of holes!
One does not have to be outside of the country for orders not to be carried out. When a high ranking officer issue orders to his subordinates relative to a particular and delicate mission, it is expected that it should be carried out without questions, wherever the superior is. That is the mentality of Filipino underlings, especially those in the military.
I am one of those saddened by Mar Roxas' naivete of Lacson's dubious past.
It is not that we are judging and condemning Sen. Lacson already for he, too, has got to be proven innocent in the court of law and cleared beyond any reasonable doubt.
But, for Mar Roxas to express undeniably Lacson's innocence by negating his culpability outright in the Dacer-Corbito murder case just because Lacson was outside of the country is a folly Mar would come to regret one day.
In absolving Lacson, is Roxas also declaring ex-President Estrada guiltless?
Is Mar Roxas taking the intelligence of Filipinos for granted, too?
For being insensible to this high profile crime that has taken all these years to get to be resolved, Roxas just lost my support for his candidacy.
Published on November 8, 2009 at 2:28 am FROM: http://quierosaber.wordpress.com/
Tags: Cezar Mancao, Dacer-Corbito murder case, Department of Justice, DOJ, Emmanuel Corbito, Ex-president Estrada, Glenn Dumlao, Salvador Dacer, Sen. Mar Roxas, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, U.N.millinium summit
Noynoy airs view on Lacson case January 8th, 2010 Posted in Latest News MANILA BULLETIN
Liberal Party standard bearer and senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III raised on Thursday the possibility that Malacañang would be using the filing of murder charges against Sen. Panfilo Lacson to cover up the Maguindanao massacre which implicates a strong ally of President Arroyo as the major suspect.
Aquino believes that the double murder charges filed against Lacson in connection to the killing of public relations man Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito would be the administration's way of diverting the issue on the murder of 57 people in Maguindanao province where among those killed were journalists. Sen. Noynoy Aquino III
Aquino said he is wondering why the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed the charges against Lacson at a time the public is "all-eyes" on the Ampatuan trial.
"Posible (cover-up sa Ampatuan) lalo na habang nalooban ang Kapitolyo ng Maguindanao," Aquino said when asked of the issue.
Aquino strongly cited politics as the reason behind the murder case against Lacson as he expressed hope the courts will guard itself against Malacañang's ploy.
"We hope that justice will be served by deciding on the merits of the case and not because of any political considerations," Aquino said.
Senator Francis Escudero also expressed surprise over the DoJ's move, questioning why Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera considered the "conflicting and mere hearsay testimonies given during the on-going trial." By: HANNAH L. TORREGOZA Source: mb.com.ph
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