The Philippine appeals court on Thursday dismissed murder charges against a fugitive senator accused of masterminding the killing of two people more than a decade ago, according to dpa. The Court of Appeals also nullified the arrest warrant issued by a lower court against Senator Panfilo Lacson for the killings of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. Lacson went into hiding in January last year, two days before the Department of Justice filed double murder charges against him. The 80-page Court of Appeals decision noted that the main witness in the case, former police officer Cezar Mancao, was "a not credible and trustworthy witness." The court noted that Mancao has "the propensity to contradict himself on material points even under oath." "Inconsistencies and material contradiction affect the credibility of Cezar Mancao and the veracity of his statements," it said. Lacson was the country's police chief at the time of the killings. He was accused of ordering the hit with the approval of then-president Joseph Estrada. Estrada, who has denied any involvement in the killings, was not charged because of lack of evidence. Before his death, Dacer was allegedly helping opposition groups to 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 imprisonment. He never served the sentence because he was immediately pardoned by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
