InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
(UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.) Senator Panfilo Lacson on Saturday ended more than a year of being in hiding, arriving before noon in Cebu onboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 921 from Hong Kong. He then took a chartered plane to Manila, arriving at the Manila Domestic Airport before 7 p.m.
Radyo Singko 92.3 NewsFM reported that Senator Lacson arrived around 11:42 a.m. at the Mactan International Airport, where he was promptly met by officials of the Bureau of Immigration.
Lacson's arrival was confirmed by National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr.
The senator had been in hiding for more than a year since a warrant for his arrest was issued early last year in connection with the murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.
From Cebu, Senator Lacson flew to Manila, landing at the city's domestic airport just before 7 p.m. He did not meet with, nor make any statements to, the media.
On Twitter, Yahoo Philippines quoted President Benigno Aquino III's spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, as saying: "We welcome the return of Senator Ping Lacson so that he can put closure to the accusations hurled against him."
Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday told reporters that Lacson can expect to see his office open when he returns to the Senate.
“There was a request by his staff... for the reopening of the office of Senator Lacson. I do not know when he will come but there was a request from his staff," Enrile said on Thursday. "I assume that he’s about ready to come back. I’m going to talk to the Secretariat today to let the staff reopen the office of Senator Lacson."
Supt. Ager Ontog, regional director of Visayas, said Lacson did not coordinate with his office on the senator's arrival. He said his office was simply informed by the immigration office.
Ontog said he is also not certain if Lacson was with someone when he arrived in Cebu, where he once served as police director.
The Department of Interior and Local Government on March 22 recalled the tracker teams sent to hunt down Senator Lacson following a Court of Appeals decision nullifying the warrants of arrest issued against him.
Secretary Jesse Robredo said the two teams were returned to the elite Philippine National Police units they were drawn from.
In its 16-page ruling, the CA cleared Lacson of the 2000 murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito and said anyone who would arrest Lacson "may be criminally liable for arbitrary detention."
