Opposition senator flees double murder charges in Philippines

MANILA - An opposition senator accused of masterminding the killings of a publicist and his driver almost a decade ago admitted Wednesday that he had fled the Philippines.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said he left the Philippines last month to escape what he called harassment by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her supporters to prevent him from exposing corruption in the government.

“I am not guilty, but I cannot risk putting my life and security at the mercy of that evil conspiracy,” he said in a statement.

“I am a victim of a conspiracy of whispers between Arroyo and her stooge at the Department of Justice,” he said. “That’s exactly the reason why I left the country.

Immigration records showed Lacson left Manila Jan 5, two days before the Justice Department filed murder charges against him in the November 2000 killings of Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Lacson, who was the country’s police chief at the time of the killings, allegedly ordered the hit with the approval of then-president Joseph Estrada.

Estrada, who has denied any involvement in the killings, was not charged because of a lack of evidence.

Before his death, Dacer was allegedly helping opposition groups gather information about the corrupt activities of Estrada, who was eventually ousted by a military-backed mass uprising in 2001 over allegations of corruption.

In 2007, the Sandiganbayan, an anti-graft court, convicted Estrada of corruption and sentenced him to life in prison. He never served the sentence because he was immediately pardoned by Arroyo.