[2][3] In 2000, Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, were abducted in Metro Manila, later killed, and their vehicle dumped.

His clients included many of the top figures in country's politics, notably Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada (incumbent at the time of the crime), as well as in the police.

[18] A day prior, the two, both farmers in Indang, had been captured in a raid by National Bureau of Investigation agents, whom later led by them to a creek where they found the remains.

[18][19] The PAOCTF at the time of the crime was directly under then Philippine National Police chief and then candidate (later elected senator) Panfilo Lacson, who denied his involvement in any illegal abduction.

He witnessed William, Torres, and Digo de Pedro, identified as an incumbent councilor in Indang, strangle the victims to death; their bodies were set afire, burning for about half an hour.

Teofilo Viña, PAOCTF–Visayas chief and Lacson's former aide, was first alleged by the NBI as the mastermind; also pointed by the two farmers as the team leader of the involved PAOCTF agents who might gave final order for the execution of the victims.

[19][18] An airline passenger manifest had reportedly showed that Viña left Cebu for Manila, staying from a day prior to the abduction until the following night.

[14] In late March of 2001, the NBI charged at least twelve men of double murder, including Lopez brothers, Diloy, de Pedro, and four police officers, before the Department of Justice.

[6][19] The twelve, already either in detention or in police custody, were among the 22 PAOCTF officers and civilian agents, which also included Arnado and Dumlao, in the charges filed by the DOJ before the Manila Regional Trial Court in May.

Teofilo Viña, chief of PAOCTF–Visayas, as well as another police officer, were charged as additional accused;[13][14][22] Lopez brothers and Diloy were discharged, excluding Dumlao, to become state witnesses.

[24][13] In January 2023, two of the suspects were arrested through warrants issued in 2001 by Manila RTC Branch 41: former SPO1 William Reed III in Pulilan, Bulacan[29][30] and, nine days later, former SPO1 Rolando Lacasandile in Quezon City.

[31] In September 2017, Manila RTC Branch 18, while acquitting Mancao and Soberano for lack of evidence, convicted former SPO3 Mauro Torres, sentencing him to life imprisonment without eligibility of a parole.

The daughters used the Torture Victim Protection Act, allowing US courts to hear human rights abuse cases committed outside the said country.

[24] The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, a special police unit, was created by President Estrada through Executive Order No.

[32] Due to the implication of its members in the case, as well as in other crimes, his successor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered to abolish the task force in 2001.