/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ April 2, 2001, The Philippine Star, Estrada cries black propaganda, by Efren Danao, Jose Rodel Clapano and Mayen Jaymalin,
April 2, 2001, The Philippine Star, Estrada cries black propaganda, by Efren Danao, Jose Rodel Clapano and Mayen Jaymalin,
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April 2, 2001, The Philippine Star, Estrada cries black propaganda, by Efren Danao, Jose Rodel Clapano and Mayen Jaymalin,
Ousted President Joseph Estrada accused yesterday his predecessor, former President Fidel Ramos, of employing black propaganda to drag him into the kidnap-murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito.
Estrada angrily reacted to reports that Ramos and former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte were poised to go to the Department of Justice today to shed light on the double murder case.
"They can do that. Nobody is stopping them, but I am willing to face them," Estrada said in a press conference in Cebu City.
Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said earlier that Ramos and Estrada may be questioned regarding the Dacer case.
Perez noted that Ramos was the first person to report the abduction of Dacer after the publicist failed to show up for their appointment at the Manila Hotel on Nov. 24.
On the other hand, Perez said Estrada would be asked about his alleged altercation with Dacer during their meeting at Malacañang two days before the abduction.
The disgraced president branded Ramos and Almonte as "psy-war experts" out to implicate him in the Dacer kidnap-slay.
"They want to discredit me...they want to demonize me," Estrada bewailed.
He said he had expected Ramos and Almonte to conjure up all conceivable charges against him. "Let us see how successful they will be in their latest black propaganda," Estrada added.
During Saturday night's proclamation of opposition bets in San Juan, Estrada insisted his innocence on the Dacer case.
"Why should I be summoned by the DOJ (Department of Justice) when I don't know anything about it?" Estrada said.
PnM Senate bets cry foul
Former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora and his successor, Edgardo Angara, both of the opposition coalition Puwersa ng Masa (PnM), admitted that the Dacer kidnap-murder could drastically affect the election campaign of the entire party for the May 14 elections.
Zamora, who is running for Congress, expressed confidence that former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson, also a PnM senatorial aspirant, would eventually be able to explain his side on the Dacer fiasco.
Angara, running for senator, said the government, specifically the DOJ, should refrain from repeatedly dragging Lacson and Estrada into the case.
"It gives us the impression that the administration is waging harassment charges against our party. They should stop using trial by publicity because, in the first place, there were no charges filed against the President (Estrada) yet. Every one must be given a fair shake and a chance to air his side. This is unfair to all of us," Angara said.
San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, son of the former leader, said it should be Ramos, not his father, who should be investigated on the Dacer case. "But we don't expect them to probe Ramos because they are so biased against our family," the mayor said.
For his part, Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, another son of Estrada, accused Perez of being a blatant liar.
Meanwhile, militant groups are set to stage a protest caravan to Baguio City to pressure the Supreme Court (SC) to lift its indefinite restraining order against the filing of criminal cases against Estrada.
Bayan Muna leader Satur Ocampo said at least 50 vehicles will take part in the motorcade to Baguio City where the 15 SC justices are holding their en banc sessions.
"Political vigilance and sustained activism are necessary to admonish the court (that) our people would not allow any striking reversal of people power II," Ocampo said.
A Sanlakas statement said the protesters, composed of unions and urban poor organizations from Metro Manila, will picket SC sessions and present a "warrant of citizen's arrest for Estrada and cronies William Gatchalian, Mark Jimenez, Lucio Tan and Danding Cojuangco."
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents arrested on Wednesday two farmers who confessed their participation in the murder of Dacer and Corbito on the night of Nov. 24 in Barangay Bona Lejos town in Indang, Cavite.
The suspects, Jimmy Lopez and Alex Diloy, led the NBI operatives to an unmarked grave where burnt bones and teeth believed to be those of Dacer and Corbito were dug up and taken to the NBI laboratory for forensic tests.
The arrested suspects tagged at least six agents of the controversial Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) as the alleged kidnappers and killers of Dacer and Corbito.
The duo said the victims were strangled to death with a piece of electric cord. The bodies were later burned in a makeshift pyre made of firewood and old car tires.
Perez vowed to dig deeper into the case in a bid to establish the motive and determine the masterminds, saying the PAOCTF policemen could not have acted on their own.
The PAOCTF was once headed by Lacson, a known protégé of Estrada.-- Efren Danao, Jose Rodel Clapano, Mayen Jaymalin
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