MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Agnes Devandera on Friday denied allegations by Senator Panfilo Lacson that the filing of the 2 murder cases against him is politically motivated.

"It's easy to accuse the government of that, but in the end, it will be the evidence that should speak for itself. Our panel of prosecutors, on the basis of evidence, found probable cause for the double murder against Senator Ping Lacson," she added.

Devanadera told ANC's News@8 that testimonies pinning Sen. Panfilo Lacson to the double murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emannuel Corbito are strong.

She said the conflicting statements made by former police officers Cezar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao on the Dacer-Corbito murders have already been resolved by their new statements against Lacson.

Dumlao, who had initially pinned Lacson to the crime, made a sudden turnaround in May 2003 when he said he was forced into signing draft affidavits linking the senator to the double murder.

The former police officer again changed his testimony in 2009 and pointed to Lacson as the mastermind.

Mancao, meanwhile, had made repeated verbal statements that Lacson had nothing to do with the killings. But he changed his tune in his February 2009 affidavit executed in Florida, USA.

Devanadera said that the prior conflicting statements of the 2 witnesses would not matter in the separate murder cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Lacson.

"These conflicts were explained by Dumlao. What is important is how it was explained by the affiant," the justice secretary.

Devandera said she is expecting the Manila Regional Trial Court to immediately act on the murder cases they filed against Lacson.

She is confident that the judge who will be assigned to handle the case would uphold the DOJ's ruling finding probable cause to try Lacson for the murders. She said they are expecting the court to issue a warrant for Lacson's arrest soon.

Lacson's camp has filed a motion for judicial determination of probable cause, which asks the court to review the results of the DOJ's preliminary investigation on the senator's case.

"The judicial determination of probable cause won't take long. This is being done in preparation for the issuance of a warrant of arrest," Devanadera said.

Devanadera said that the DOJ also used as bases the testimonies of other witnesses in the filing of 2 murder cases against Lacson.

The other witnesses, who include former civilian agents of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, said Dacer and Corbito were abducted along Osmeña Highway in Manila in November 2000.

The witnesses said the 2 were brought to Indang town in Cavite province, where they were strangled to death and their bodies burned.