MANILA - Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday insisted that there is an on-going conspiracy to link him to “Operation Delta,” which led to the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, in November 2000.

In his privilege speech, Lacson claimed that the lawyer of former police official Cezar Mancao, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, has teamed up with former President Joseph Estrada to implicate him in the murder.

The senator gave a PowerPoint presentation of the transcripts of some of the conversations he gathered from informers.

Lacson claimed that former police officer Glenn Dumlao is reportedly being forced to corroborate statements made by a witness who allegedly saw the senator having a shouting match with Dacer sometime before the murder.

According to Lacson, the conversation went like this:

Lawyer: Papaano yan, iipitin nila ang reinstatement mo sa PNP kung hindi mo susundin ang gusto nila?

Dumlao: ‘E ‘di hindi na lang ako magpupulis, magsasaka na lang ako.

Lawyer: Mukhang nagkakasabwatan na si Topacio at Erap.

Lacson also showed video clips of Mancao’s interviews over dzMM and Channel 7, where he said he was being wooed by the government to testify against the senator.

In the interviews, Mancao admitted being called up by Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza to become a state witness in the Dacer-Corbito case in exchange for a better life for his family.

The interviews were done before Mancao was eventually extradited from the United States.

Lacson also reiterated that Estrada was behind the murders.

The senator said that based on the earlier affidavits of Dumlao and Mancao, the two officers approached then Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino regarding "Operation Delta."

Lacson said: “Again, excerpts from that supposed conversation as per narration made by Glen Dumlao in his first and handwritten sworn affidavit reveal the following:

‘When we reached the office of Police Superintendent Aquino, Police Superintendent Mancao asked: Noy, ano ba ang special operations na ito? Police Superintendent Aquino answered: Kay kuwan ‘yan, Mr Dacer. OK na yan sa Malacañang, pinag-uusapan na yan."

"Police Superintendent Mancao again queried: Clear ba ito sa Boss natin, kay 71? (Senator Lacson is a member of PMA class 1971)."

"Police Superintendent Aquino answered: "Sila (Malacañang) na daw bahala sa kanya."  (Malacañang said it will handle him (Lacson).

Still supporting Mancao, Dumlao’s familes

Lacson also denied that he has withdrawn his financial support for the families of Dumlao and Mancao.

“Simula pa noong 2001, magpahanggang ngayon, patuloy kong sinusustentuhan ang mga pamilya ng mga dati kong tauhan na nakakulong sa Manila City jail, kasama na ang pamilya ni Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino, Cezar Mancao, at Glenn Dumlao, haanggang ang dalawa ay nakauwi sa Pilipinas kamakailan lamang,” said Lacson.

The support he has been extending, Lacson said, was done with the help of people they have rescued from kidnappers while they were still in the police force.

The senator also claimed that the ones truly responsible for the sufferings of the former police officials did not even bother giving them financial support.

“Samantalang ang taong maaaring may kinalamang malaki sa pagdurusa ng mga dati namin tauhan, kahit isang singkong duling ay walang itinulong sa kanila. Ako ang lahat ang sumasalo sa problemang wala akong kinalaman,” he said.

He denied that he was giving support to the former police officials because of the murder case. He said he was doing this out of pity because of the ordeals being suffered by the families of the former policemen.

“Hindi dahil may may kinalaman ako, may dapat akong pagtakpan sa kasong Dacer-Corbito kundi dahil sila ay dati kong mga tauhan at naawa ako sa kanilang pamilya,” said Lacson.

Jueteng, a "family affair"

Meanwhile, Lacson implied in the continuation of his privilege speech that controlling the illegal numbers game jueteng had been a family affair of the Estradas.

Without naming names, Lacson relayed a conversation between "two brothers" which showed a simmering conflict over shares pocketed from jueteng. The elder brother allegedly got hold of information that his younger brother received P1 million in jueteng payola from an operator in Baguio.

“Yong P1 million, hatiin mo, baka gamitin lang pambili ng droga,” Lacson said, quoting the elder brother.

Lacson said the older presidential son also received P800,000 in jueteng payola from Bulacan, another P1 million from then Ilocos governor Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson, and another payment of  an unspecified amount from Pampanga.

Estrada belies accusations

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada later challenged Lacson to file a case against him if he has any concrete evidence that he benefited from jueteng.

Estrada also told ABS-CBN News Channel that Lacson’s allegations have already been proven wrong by the Sandiganbayan. Singson had accused the younger Estrada of receiving millions from jueteng.

He was acquitted by the anti-graft court in December 2007.

Lacson also insinuated that Jinggoy turned his back on his father in 2006. Lacson quoted an alleged conversation between "two male persons," where "voice number two" said: “Huwag mo na kami idamay ni mommy, si daddy na lang, magpre-presidente pa ‘ko.”

Lacson said that voice number two was then talking to a witness in the plunder case filed against the older Estrada. “We all know that the father was later convicted,” Lacson said, referring to the deposed president who was declared guilty of plunder in 2007.

The senator said that the phone conversation showed "betrayal." Jinggoy refuted this in his interview with ANC, saying he cannot afford to be disloyal to his own father.

Lacson earlier blamed jueteng as the cause of his falling-out with the Estrada patriarch in 1998. In his privilege speech delivered last week, Lacson said that he refused to heed Estrada’s orders to stop dismantling jueteng operations.

Estrada allegedly asked him to go easy on jueteng because this brought money to the coffers of local officials who served instrumental to his victory in the 1998 presidential race.