The Philippine National Police will be helping the National Bureau of Investigation look for escaped murder suspect Cesar Mancao, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Thursday.
Mancao, a former police officer, left a NBI detention facility at 1:12 a.m. on Thursday, De Lima said. Mancao may have had the help of two jail guards.
De Lima said Mancao, scheduled to be transferred to the Manila City Jail, told her over the telephone that he might be killed if transferred.
Mancao was supposed to turn state witness in the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. The Manila Regional Trial Court denied a motion to have him discharged as an accused in the case in 2012. He was transferred to the custody of the NBI that same year.
He was again ordered transferred to MCJ, which NBI Deputy Director Rey Esmeralda said in a Sun Star Online report may have prompted Mancao to escape. He added security footage shows Mancao was alone when he left his cell on Thursday.
Mancao left his guards a note saying “please don’t remove my things without proper inventory. I am just a victim of injustice…”
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Photo: Department of Justice file photo
