President Arroyo on Thursday denounced the murder of a key witness in the 2000 killing of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito and ordered the police to hunt down the perpetrators.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said the President is concerned about the “mini-crime wave” that has left many witnesses and other alleged conspirators in the high profile Dacer-Corbito murder case either dead or forced into hiding.

“The President expects the police to solve this immediately particularly knowing if there is any link at all of the murder to the existing issue at hand,” Golez said in a news conference in the Palace.

Golez acknowledged that it is highly probable the killing of Jimmy Lopez, a former agent of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, is connected to the Dacer-Corbito case.

Lopez and a woman companion were shot dead in his rented home in Indang, Cavite last Wednesday on the eve of the hearing.

Golez said the police must also still check other angles behind the death of Lopez. “That’s the reason why the police have been directed to make sure they give their report as soon as possible,” he said.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) joined on Thursday the Philippine National Police (PNP) as lead agency in the Lopez probe.

Deputy Director for Intelligence Services lawyer Ruel Lasala said the NBI and the PNP will conduct a joint investigation into the slaying of Lopez.

At the same time, Cavite police have already formed a task force to investigate the death of Lopez.

Senior Supt. Alfred S. Corpuz, Cavite Police Provincial Office (CPPO) director, said a seven-man Task Force Lopez will investigate the case.

Corpuz said the task force is investigating at least three possible angles for the slaying: Lopez's involvement in the sensational Dacer-Corbito murder case, illegal drugs and a love triangle.

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson branded on Thursday as “unfair and irresponsible” insinuations that he had something to do with the killing of Lopez.

Interviewed at the Senate session hall yesterday, Lacson wondered why DoJ Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, head of the interagency task force on political violence and unexplained killings, was quick to insinuate he had something to do with the death of Lopez.

“Hindi ko alam kung anong galit sa akin ni Blancaflor. Magkakilala kami but not personally,” Lacson said.

“For all we know may angulong drug-related o personal. Maraming angulong tinitignan so kung siya ay isang responsible or mataas na pinuno ng DoJ, dapat huwag agad magbintang,” he said.

Former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II on Thursday said he is not ruling out the possibility that Lopez’s death had something to do with the Dacer-Corbito case. (With reports from Anthony Giron, Jeamma E. Sabate, and Mario B. Casayuran)