A CLOSE friend and former colleague of Senator Panfilo Lacson joined the calls for the lawmaker to return to the country and face the charges hurled against him in court.
Romeo Acop, Chief Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Command and incumbent congressman of Antipolo City, said that although he wants to talk to the senator, there are no possible means to do so because his staff members have kept quiet on his whereabouts.
"He's the most secretive officer that I have known, he keeps all these things in his heart kaya gusto ko na siya'y maka-usap," he told reporters.
Acop noted that it is better for Lacson to face the music rather than let the "long arm of the law catch up with him".
On January 5, the senator fled the country days before a court issued a warrant of arrest against him over the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Carbito.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has already cancelled the regular and diplomatic passports of the senator last week.
In November 2009, Acop's younger brother, Reynaldo, was charged with kidnapping together with Lacson, in connection with the alleged abduction of two Chinese citizens Wong Kam Chong in 1998 and Chong Hiu Ming in 1999.
Asked whether the lawmaker knew of the kidnapping charges of his brother, he told Sun.Star in a phone interview: "He's my younger brother but yung sa kidnapping, yan ang hindi ko alam."
Reynaldo was the head of the PNP Narcotics Group while Lacson was the head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Task Force (PAOCTF) then. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)