I knew Bubby Dacer like most everyone among Manila’s brotherhood of journalists.

Manong Bubby, the soft-spoken Bicolano, loved to wear white (like basketball coaching legend Tito Eduque).

Provincial journalists were particularly close to him and the door of his room-cum-office at the Manila Hotel was always open, with his staff always ready to receive inquiries.

His clients were also legion: politicians and businessmen who needed his counsel to reach out to contacts in the mainstream press.

And one thing with Manong Bubby, whether you were ‘close’ to him or not, he had a way of communicating to you that if ever needed any help he’d be there.

So who would have wanted to do him any harm?

Where had he come from on the evening he and his driver were allegedly intercepted by men from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

An eerie feeling goes through me as I recall Manong Bubby’s own words to me that night: “Ding, malapit nang magkatulong-tulong ang lahat, matitigil na ang awayan. (Things will be resolved, we’ll be helping each other and the bickering will end.) Before I could ask him what he meant, Manong Bubby was already talking to another colleague and left minutes later after waving goodbye.

Several days after, news would break that he had gone missing with his white Toyota Revo was found dumped in Cavite.

It was much later that talk would circulate about Manong Bubby having been murdered in connection with documents in his possession and about his having intended “to disengage” from a controversial client.”

Rethinking Manong Bubby’s words to this writer 8 years after his murder, various controversies rocking the Estrada administration just months before Edsa Dos come to mind: the insider-trading incidents in the stock market and public uproar over an increase in summary executions believed to be the handiwork of rogue policemen, vigilantes, and guns for hire.

Will the mistery surrounding the death of the prominent ‘PR’ practitioner finally be unraveled?

The arrest in the U.S. and subsequent deportation to Manila of ex-PAOCTF men Cesar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao should logically bring out the truth.

Both Mancao and Dumlao are tagged to have been close to former PNP chief and now Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson.

So the good senator will again be hounded by the unanswered questions about Mancao and Dumlao’s activities.

The two former policemen will be brought to trial for their alleged crime.

But will the brains in the murders of Bubby Dacer and his driver, Alex Corbito ever pay for the dastardly deeds?

(Cross-posted @ At Midfield with revisions)

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