MANILA, Philippines - Is Sen. Panfilo Lacson working on his alibi for the Bubby Dacer-Emmanuel Corbito double murder case?

Lacson left for Hong Kong last January 5, just 3 days before the Department of Justice recommended the filing of murder raps against him for the murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver on November 24, 2000.

An ABS-CBN source, meanwhile, said Lacson could be securing an affidavit from his former subordinate, Michael Ray Aquino, that would clear the senator of any involvement in the double murders. Aquino is serving a six-year jail sentence in the US for conspiring with White House aide Leandro Agoncillo in sending classified documents to Lacson and former president Joseph Estrada.

The source added that Lacson may send his lawyer to Aquino since the senator could not go to the US.

Questions about Lacsons whereabouts surfaced as early as last week after the senator failed to attend Senate plenary sessions on the ethics case against Sen. Manny Villar.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that Lacson wrote him a letter, saying that he cannot attend sessions in the meantime because he is abroad. He said that Lacson's travel authority has already expired, thus making him officially absent from the sessions.

Two of Lacson's colleagues said the senator is currently in Australia.

The Bureau of Immigration, meanwhile, denied that it has placed Lacson in its watchlist since no warrant of arrest has been issued for the senator.