Lacson’s lawyers threaten to sue DOJ, NBI over continuing manhunt

MANILA, Philippines -- The camp of Senator Panfilo Lacson threatened on Monday to sue authorities should they insist on arresting the missing lawmaker despite the Court of Appeals ruling clearing him of involvement in the 2000 murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

Lawyer Alex Poblador argued that the Court of Appeals (CA) order immediately took effect despite a motion for reconsideration that was expected to be filed by the complainants.

The senator has been on the run since January 2010, shortly before an arrest warrant was issued against him.

Lacson denied the allegation, saying he was a victim of political persecution under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"If he decides to come out and they arrest him on the basis of the warrant that has already been set aside, we will file cases against the authorities and the (Department of Justice), if (it) instructed (them) to do so, for arbitrary detention or illegal arrest," Poblador said in a statement.

Poblador refuted Justice Secretary Leila De Lima's contention that the arrest warrant remained in effect because the CA ruling could still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The lawyer said arrest warrants were "obviously mere ancillary to the main criminal case and are therefore deemed automatically lifted when the criminal cases against Senator Lacson were dismissed."

"Therefore, the nullification of the arrest warrant is immediately executory," he said.

Citing Rule 39, Section 4 of the Rules of Court, Lacson's lawyer maintained that decisions on injunctions "shall be enforceable after their rendition and shall not be stayed by an appeal taken there from."

"Since the arrest warrants have been nullified, there is no more basis to deprive him of his liberty," Poblador said.

"A person is entitled to immediate liberty, particularly considering that he is presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and not until the appeal or motion for (re)consideration is over."

Poblador acknowledged that the complainants could still file a motion for reconsideration and later ask the Supreme Court to review the case.

But he said "the pendency of such petition cannot stay the execution of the judgment, which is the subject thereof, in the absence of any preliminary injunction ordered by the Supreme Court."

Last Friday, De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation, an agency attached to the DOJ, has been ordered to continue the hunt for Lacson because "the warrant of arrest is still subsisting." (report from Christian V. Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer)