THE Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs yesterday ordered the detention of former narcotics agent Jonathan Morales after he was cited in contempt for lying that he did not misrepresent himself when he applied as an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in 2009.
During yesterday’s fourth hearing on the “PDEA Leaks” controversy, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada grilled Morales about the information that he wrote on his Personal Data Sheet (PDS) when he was accepted at the PDEA.
Estrada said he questioned Morales’ misrepresentation in his PDS to establish that he is not a credible resource person.
Morales has been claiming that he prepared the 2012 pre-operation report and authority to conduct operation to verify the alleged illegal drugs use of former senator and now President Marcos Jr. and actress Maricel Soriano.
He has testified in earlier hearings that a confidential agent, whom he refused to name, allegedly gave him five photos of Marcos and Soriano engaged in pot sessions in a condominium unit in Makati City.
The operation, he said, did not push through as this was supposedly blocked by the late
PDEA deputy director general for operations Carlos Gadapan, purportedly on orders of former Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
During the hearing, Estrada confronted Morales with a certified true copy of his PDS with the PDEA and asked him to confirm if it was his signature affixed in the last page of the sheets. He asked the former agent to sign in a blank piece of paper for comparison.
Morales, however, made a different signature and told senators that he is no longer using the signature affixed on his old PDS.
He initially also said he cannot recall if it was his handwriting in the pDS, but later on admitted that it was his.
Aside from the signature and handwriting, Estrada likewise grilled Morales on his declaration that that he was never been discharged, dropped from the rolls, or dismissed from service when he was in the PNP.
The senator said Morales was, in fact, dropped from the police rolls prior to his employment with the PDEA.
Estrada also questioned why Morales declared that he was not in any way charged administratively or criminally, but records showed that the former PDEA agent had a string of cases prior to being admitted to PDEA.
Morales said he has no information of the cases filed against him while he was still at the PNP. He also said that he was not the one who checked the boxes which asked if he has been charged for administrative or criminal cases, or if he was dismissed from the service, saying it was PDEA which did it to taint his image.
Estrada said Morales has been giving the committee a run-around with his responses, and asked Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, committee chairman, to cite him in contempt and order his detention at the Senate.
“Mr. Chair, I move that he be cited in contempt… He is continuously lying before this committee,” Estrada said.
Dela Rosa approved Estrada’s motion and instructed the Office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms to detain Morales at the Senate building.
Estrada said: “The truth has all come out. All the resource persons here are saying that you (Morales) are a liar. I reiterate my previous statement during the last two hearings that the statement given by this resource person (Morales) against the agency like PDEA and its current leadership are evidently perjurious, defamatory, and outright false.”
MORE LIES
The Dela Rosa panel also cited Eric “Pikoy” Santiago, a dismissed National Police Commission employee, in contempt for lying.
In a previous hearing, Morales presented a CCTV footage showing him and justice department investigator Romeo Enriquez talking with Santiago over the phone with the speakers on, where Santiago was heard urging Morales to stop testifying before the committee due to alleged death threats to the whistleblower’s life.
Santiago even mentioned the name of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos as one of those who wanted Morales killed.
Yesterday, Santiago told the committee that he only fabricated the alleged threats and said that he had no idea that Morales would present the CCTV footage before the panel.
He said he concocted the story so that Morales will believe it so that the panel will invite the persons he mentioned to testify before the committee.
Dela Rosa said he does not believe that Santiago made up the story and said there could be powerful people behind his statement that his tip was a lie.
Dela Rosa moved to cite Santiago in contempt and detained at the Senate.
Morales and Santiago are being held in separate rooms.
OCHOA DENIAL
Ochoa physically attended yesterday’s hearing and denied Morales’ statement that he allegedly blocked the supposed operation on Marcos and Soriano.
Ochoa said he has neither met Morales nor worked with the former narcotics age, more so discussed with him drug-related matter.
He said he also has no idea why Morales would implicate him in the issue.
“As I earlier mentioned, I don’t even know him and I don’t recall of any occasion that we have met or even talked so I completely deny that I have made those instructions as alleged,” Ochoa said.
He said he was a former partner of the MOST (Marcos, Ochoa, Serapio, and Tan) Law Firm, where the First Lady was also one of their partners. He said he resigned when he was appointed executive secretary by the late President Benigno Aquino in 2010.
PUBLIC APOLOGY
Zambales 1st District Rep. Jeffersin Khonghun says Dela Rosa should issue a public apology to the President if the Senate investigation fails to substantiate Morales’ claims that HE was a drug user.
“Nakikiusap ako na kung walang mapatunayan sa hearing na ito na ebidensya, sana humingi sila ng tawad sa ating Pangulo dahil talagang dina-drag nila ‘yung pangalan, ‘yung malinis na pangalan ng ating Pangulo (I’m pleading that if this hearing doesn’t prove anything through evidence, he should apologize to the President because they really drag his name, his unblemished name into this),” he told a press conference.
Deputy Speaker David of Quezon said he could not understand “why so much time, money and effort is being poured into something that has no value whatsoever.”
He pointed out inconsistencies in the statements of Morales and again raised doubts about his credibility.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua said the Dela Rosa-led hearing is obviously being undertaken “in aid of re-election.”
“Ito pong hearing na ito maliwanag po ay hindi na po in aid of legislation, kung hindi in aid of election at ang tanging layunin lamang ay sirain at yurakan ang pangalan po ng ating Pangulo (This is clearly not in aid of legislation, but in aid of election and its real motive is to destroy and tarsnish the name of our President),” he said. — With Wendell Vigilia
