SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday reminded the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, which is chaired by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa,
that the hearings it is conducting on the alleged “PDEA Leaks” should be based on evidence and not on hearsay.
Zubiri said the intention of the committee investigation is to seek the truth, or verify the authenticity of two leaked documents supposedly being kept by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which allege that President Marcos Jr. and actress Maricel Soriano were purportedly the subjects of an illegal drugs operation in 2012.
“It is our opinion that hearings should aim to ferret out the truth using evidence and facts. Otherwise, the faith of the people in inquiries in aid of legislation may be diminished, especially when it causes reputational damage to other parties,” Zubiri said.
“We were monitoring the Committee hearings being conducted by the Committee on Public Order and very serious accusations have been made. Whether they have merit or not is a whole other matter. While certain claims were made, documentary evidence is yet to be presented. There were no pictures, no corroborating testimonies. In other words, this was solely based on the testimony of one person on what appears to be hearsay evidence,” Zubiri also said during the panel’s third hearing yesterday.
Zubiri was referring to ex-PDEA agent Jonathan Morales, who earlier told the panel that he supposedly prepared a pre-operation report and authority to operate against Marcos and Soriano in 2012 after he a “confidential agent” allegedly showed him photographs of the two engaging in illegal drugs activities in a condominium unit in Makati City.
The two documents – which are supposed to be confidential – were exposed by vlogger Maharlika in her social media channels. The post has since been called the “PDEA Leaks.”
Morales has also said that the operation against Marcos and Soriano was supposedly stopped by former PDEA deputy director general for operations Carlos Gadapan allegedly on order of then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
Gadapan can no longer attest to the veracity of Morales’ claim as he has already died.
The PDEA has denied the existence of the two documents.
Zubiri said that while he respects the committee’s right to perform its oversight functions in aid of legislation, “I caution our colleagues to be very careful not to use hearings in aid of political persecution.”
“Kailangan ng ebidensiya, hindi puwedeng sabi-sabi lang. At pinapa-alala natin ang halaga ng mapagkakatiwalaang mga resources. Walang tsismis, walang politika– katotohanan lang (Evidence are needed, we cannot rely on hearsay. I am reminding the committee on the importance of reliable resource persons – no rumor mongering, no politics, but only the truth),” he said.
Zubiri said Dela Rosa should not allow resource persons to divert to other topics not “germane to the subject of the motu proprio investigation done last hearing.”
“There have been instances where statements were made in legislative inquiries, only to be recanted before the courts later on. We do not want a repeat of that,” he added.
QUESTIONABLE CHARACTER
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada questioned the credibility of Morales as a resource person, noting that he was dismissed from PDEA on October 2, 2013 for dishonesty.
According to a decision by the Civil Service Commission, Morales executed an affidavit stating that he and fellow PDEA agents had conducted a supposedly successful entrapment operation on May 3, 2010 which led to the arrest of two suspects who were later charged with violation of RA 9165 or the anti-illegal drugs law.
During the trial, Morales recanted his testimony and stated that there was no lawful entrapment and that they planted the evidence. Morales said he recanted his statements to divulge alleged irregularities in PDEA’s operations.
Morales was then charged with dishonesty, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service which led to his dismissal from PDEA.
Morales appealed the CSC decision before the Supreme Court but was found “unmeritorious as it is undeniable, based on Morales’ own admission, that he concealed or distorted the truth about the factual circumstances of the arrest” of the two suspects.
Estrada stressed senators should vet the credibility of resource persons before allowing them to testify.
Estrada said: “Mr. Chair, dinidinig natin ang testimonya ng isang witness na nahaharap sa mga criminal complaints sa ilang local na hukuman at kabilang dito ang paglabag sa Article 180 ng Revised Penal Code, and batas na nagtatakda ng parusa sa mga taong nagbibigay ng peke o maling testimonya laban sa isang akusado at kasalakuyan itong naka-pending sa Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 4 sa San Fernando, Pampanga (Mr. Chair, we are hearing the testimony of a witness who is facing criminal complaints, including violation of Article 180 of the Revised Penal Code, the law which imposes punishment to people who give false testimonies which is now pending before the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 84 in San Fernando, Pampanga).”
President Marcos, over the weekend, called Morales a “professional liar” and compared him to a “jukebox” which plays a song depending on the choice of the person who drops a coin for it to operate.
Lawyer Francis del Valle, acting director of PDEA legal and prosecution service, said the documents which Morales said he prepared never became a part of the agency’s official documents.
Testifying during the investigation, Del Valle said any PDEA agent can prepare reports using the official PDEA forms but they have to be stamped with a control number for them to become official documents.
In this case, the alleged “leaked” documents did not have control numbers, and thus cannot be considered as official documents.
OCHOA
The Dela Rosa committee invited Ochoa to attend yesterday’s hearing, but the former executive secretary of the Aquino administration again excused himself saying he was sick.
Dela Rosa said another invitation will be sent out to Ochoa for the next hearing on May 20, and if he again fails to attend, the committee will issue a subpoena to compel his attendance.
Estrada questioned why Ochoa still needs to attend the hearing, noting that Morales’ statement linking him to the issue was based on second hand information.
Dela Rosa said he needs to confirm if Morales was saying the truth when he claimed that Ochoa blocked the operations against Marcos and Soriano.
Estrada said: “Well, Mr. Chairman, as far as I am concerned, these are all hearsay and you cannot believe in all the alibis or the imagination of this particular resource person, Mr. President.”
‘STOP THE PROBE’
At the House, administration ally Rep. Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol), an assistant majority leader, called on Zubiri to halt the investigation, saying there is no substantial evidence presented during the hearings.
“What is at stake here is the integrity of the institution. Kung madalas tayong makakakita, makakarinig ng ganitong klaseng imbestigasyon in aid of legislation, wala naman pong nakukuha na sapat na ebidensya o impormasyon out of these three hearings conducted by the Senate (We often see this kind of investigation in aid of legislation but it is bereft of sufficient evidence or information out of these three hearings conducted by the Senate).”
He added: “So I guess the Senate leadership has to intervene because even members of the Senate have already commented and reacted to the way the proceeding is being conducted. Pero sabi naman po nila na wala naman pong saysay iyong mga testimonya nitong dismissed PDEA agent (But they also said the testimonies of this dismissed agent has no value) and therefore what we have right now is fabricated evidence being presented before a committee hearing.”
Bongalon called Morales as a “pathological liar,” citing the significance of conducting investigations in aid of legislation with clear direction and substantive evidence.
“So with these kinds of testimonies, there is no even corroborative evidence, there is no documentary evidence being presented,” he said. “We’re just wasting our time and effort instead of focusing our investigation on more important issues being faced by our country.”
Bongalon challenged Dela Rosa to summon self-confessed Davao Death Squad member Arturo Lascañas and former anti-drug operative Eduardo Acierto, saying they are more credible witnesses in the illegal drugs trade.
“Kung pag-uusapan lang naman natin yung droga, bakit ‘di natin patawagin si Lascañas o si Acierto? (If we’re talking about drugs, why don’t we invite Lascañas or Acierto?” he said.
If Dela Rosa can invite Lascañas and Acierto to the inquiry, Bongalon said they can shed light on the anti-drug war of the previous administration.
Lascañas was among the persons interviewed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) about Duterte’s role in extrajudicial killings when he was still mayor of Davao City while Acierto, a former deputy director for administration of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, has accused former Duterte’s economic adviser, Chinese citizen Michael Yang of being a drug lord along with Allan Lim also known as Lin Weixiong. — With Wendell Vigilia
