The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Tuesday it cannot prevent former police Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II and former police Supt. Glenn Dumlao from talking about their case as they are set to face each other in Wednesday’s trial for the 2000 double murder case involving Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Lawyer Allan Contado, chief of the NBI’s Anti-Graft Division (AGD) and concurrent bureau spokesman, said the NBI’s task is strictly to provide security for the two accused and could not interfere with the court and Department of Justice (DoJ).

Mancao and Dumlao are expected to see each other during the trial set at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the sala of Judge Myra Judge Myra V. Garcia-Fernandez of the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 18.

“They are former colleagues and of course they may talk casually, kumustahan, when they see other inside the court room. Now if they decide to discuss the case, I don’t think we can stop them right from there,” Contado said.

“Mancao is already in the DoJ Witness Protection Program and we are waiting for the ruling of the court whether he will be removed or not as an accused. Dumlao, on the other hand, has a pending application for witness protection program and the DoJ is reviewing his application,” Contado said.

Last August 13, Mancao failed to show up during his trial after he was reportedly afflicted with amoebiasis.

The counsels of Dumlao asked the court on August 13 to exclude him as an accused and filed a motion for reconsideration with the appeal to recall the warrant of arrest issued by the court. Dumlao is set to be arraigned also today.

Mancao and Dumlao, two former police officers of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), were extradited recently from the United States.