A Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge is expected to decide soon whether or not she will inhibit herself from trying the double murder case of Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in the succeeding days or weeks.

Former police Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II and former police Supt. Glenn Dumlao, who were both extradited recently from the United States, were among the accused in the double murder case filed in 2000.

Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez, of the Manila RTC Branch 18, is expected to rule in the succeeding hearings the motion filed last Friday by defense lawyers of the co-accused, seeking her to inhibit herself from trying the case.

As part of the court procedure, the judge will most likely set a hearing on the motion for inhibition in the next days or weeks.

In filing a motion for inhibition, lawyers of accused Thomas Sarmiento, Margarito Cueno, Crisostomo Purificacion, Rommel Rollan and Ruperto Nemenio said the judge “displayed manifest partiality, bias and hostility” in handling the case.

One of the lawyers, Alex Avisado, counsel of Sarmiento, said an incident last June 30 during the arraignment of Mancao prompted them to file the motion.

Avisado, the branch clerk of court, apparently upon the judge's order, did not allow Mancao's other co-accused to attend the arraignment. The judge, according to Avisado, explained that all accused cannot be accommodated every time there are hearings because the courtroom would be crowded.

“This was a blatant disregard of the constitutional rights of the accused to be present in all stages of the proceedings. They were deprived of the right to attend the hearing of their own case,” Avisado said.
 
Fernandez, according to Avisado, later explained to them that the right of the accused to be present in all stages of the proceedings is not absolute.

He said another reason of filing the motion was that the judge allowed Mancao to take to the witness stand during hearing on July 22 despite several pending motions filed by the defense.

Meanwhile, an official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Sunday Mancao and Dumlao will unlikely see each other in the trial of the double murder case.

Regional Director lawyer Ric Diaz, chief of the NBI Anti-Terrorism Division (ATD) and concurrent spokesman for Dacer-Corbito case, said the court has yet to set dates of trial that would require them to attend hearings at the same time.

“They have different dates of trials. Mancao is set to attend hearing on August 13 but Dumlao is not required to attend there. Dumlao will be arraigned on Aug. 26 and we do not receive notification from the court that we will bring Mancao during arraignment of Dumlao,” he said.