Last chance for Corpus

Three Senate panels resume this morning their public hearing on the charges against one of their colleagues even as they issued a virtual ultimatum on military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus to come up with strong evidence against Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Corpus, chief of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), is presenting a new surprise witness against Lacson.

Sen. Robert Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, said Corpus, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice (DOJ) should now come up with solid evidence to back up their charges against the neophyte senator.

"Perhaps we could give them a time frame within which to submit their evidence, especially the supposed confirmation of Lacson’s bank account by the US attorney general," Barbers said.

He said that unless more solid pieces of evidence are presented, the inquiry would only be a forum pitting one’s word against the other’s.

Corpus said that if the Senate ended its probe, he would take his case to the DOJ.

The next surprise witness is a certain "Mar," who had claimed to be in on the inner workings of the Presidential Anti- Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) that was headed by Lacson.

The appearance of "Mar" follows that of the first surprise witness Danny Devnani who claimed last Thursday that former President Joseph Estrada, his son Jinggoy, friend Charlie "Atong" Ang and Lacson were involved in the criminal activities of the Kuratong Baleleng criminal gang.

"Mar" had earlier claimed that he had been connected with the PAOCTF since 1996 and had received a monthly stipend of P20,000 as a civilian "asset."

The Senate committees on public order and illegal drugs, national defense and public accountability (Blue Ribbon), however, will focus on charges against Lacson related to drug trafficking, according to Sen. Joker Arroyo, Blue Ribbon chairman.

By proceeding with the hearing, the Senate panels rejected the calls of opposition Senators Blas Ople and Tessie Aquino-Oreta to terminate the hearings for lack of evidence, aside from their being a forum for character assassination.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said that the decision of the Senate majority to proceed with the hearings was not influenced by the call of President Arroyo to go on.

"We decided on this even before the President expressed her opinion. She is entitled to her opinion. We will proceed," Drilon stressed.

Barbers said that they would wait for the presentation of evidence by the Department of Justice, the sworn statement of Devnani, and the testimony of other witnesses before they end the hearings.

Sen. Renato Cayetano said that the majority does not consider it just to terminate a hearing in midstream.

"There is only one Senate hearing that has been prematurely terminated — the jueteng scandal involving Erap, but this is because it has been preempted by the impeachment trial," Cayetano said.

Lacson, however, said that he would continue to keep off the Senate investigation.

"Why should I waste my time confronting witnesses who would only say the same things they had told media?" he said.

He also laughed off the forthcoming appearance of a new witness.

"Magpapakita sila ulit ng isang loko-loko (They’ll just present another crazy guy)," he said.

He reiterated his claim that he does not know government agent Angelo "Ador" Mawanay, Devnani or even the one named Mar.

"Magpakita naman sila ng witness na talang kilala ko! They only claim to know me but I don’t know them," he protested.

Lacson belittled the sketches of Mawanay’s supposed contacts with the PAOCTF to show that he (Mawanay) was indeed a PAOCTF agent.

"Sino si Mang Ben? Sino si Toyo? Totoo ba silang tao? Mawanay should present proof of their existence first," Lacson said.

Mawanay claimed that he was with "Mang Ben" in the alleged delivery of drugs to various personalities and in the execution of some persons. He, however, said that Mang Ben, who could have corroborated his testimony, was already dead.

Opposition Senators Edgardo Angara and Vicente Sotto III both supported the decision of Lacson to stay out of the hearings. They said that they advised Lacson not to participate "for his own sake."

They said that they would not want Lacson to "suffer" the fate that befell Majority Leader Loren Legarda when she confronted Mawanay over the latter’s allegation that she had ordered from him 1,000 cell phone units worth P8.9 million.

A furious Legarda denied Mawanay’s claim and media had a heyday, Sotto said.

"Pinaglaruan ng media si Loren after she confronted Mawanay. The same thing happened to me when I confronted a witness who linked me to illegal drugs in the 10th Congress," he said. — With Aurea Calica