The Department of Justice (DoJ) has accepted former police superintendent Cezar Mancao into the witness protection program (WPP), officially making him a witness in the reopened double-murder case of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver in 2000.

DoJ Secretary Agnes Devanadera said the DoJ found merit in Mancao’s claim that his life is under threat because of his knowledge in the murders of Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Mancao had issued an affidavit to the DoJ in which he linked his former colleagues in the police and other high officials to the murders of Dacer and Corbito.

“The department has approved his application for witness protection. The requirements of the law are that the testimony must be very material and that there is serious threat to his life and his family,” Devanadera said.

Devanadera also said that Mancao had not been reinstated in the Philippine National Police (PNP) which would have disqualified him from being included in the witness protection program.

DoJ prosecutors are recommending to the court that Mancao be a state witness in the reopened murder cases of Dacer and Corbito because of his involvement and knowledge in the murders.