PNP: Lacson bugged Chavit

A top police official has disclosed that Sen. Panfilo Lacson used bugging equipment during his stint as head of an elite anti-crime task force last year to monitor phone calls by then Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson.

Lacson, who headed the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force when Joseph Estrada assumed the presidency, is facing illegal wiretapping charges. Ten PAOCTF officers were similarly charged by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

On the other hand, Singson’s expose on illegal gambling last October led to the impeachment, ouster and subsequent arrest of Estrada, Lacson’s benefactor.

Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, head of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said representatives of the company that provided the bugging devices had spotted the surveillance vehicle of the PAOCTF when Singson made his expose at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan last year.

"Dean Ablan, Gertrudes de Leon and Bonnie Babe Velasco of Armstrack Corp. said the vehicle was used in actual operations without their presence and their knowledge," Gualberto said.

The CIDG chief said that on another occasion, the Toyota Hi-Ace van, which carried the equipment for tracing and monitoring phone calls, was used in a surveillance operation in Bulacan.

"Velasco informed the company that she was taken to Sta. Maria, Bulacan for an actual operation in the guise of testing the equipment," Gualberto told Ombudsman Aniano Desierto in a 10-page referral letter.

He added: "Other PAOCTF officers admitted to Armstrack that they conducted testing and actual operations on different dates in the absence of any company representative and without any authorization."

Gualberto pointed out that in all instances, Lacson and his men violated an agreement entered into with Armstrack which provides that company trainors, being experts in the field, should always be around when the devices are used.

At the height of Estrada’s impeachment trial and Senate probe on the questionable acquisition of bugging equipment, it was learned that the chief of the PAOCTF technical division had wanted to turn over the devices to Armstrack.

"He informed the company that the PAOCTF would have to turn over the equipment for safekeeping until the investigation cools off. At that time, the PAOCTF had dismantled the equipment without the presence of local representatives," Gualberto said.

The CIDG, in its complaint filed with the Ombudsman Friday, submitted 42 pieces of evidence, mostly documentary, to show how the PAOCTF had acquired the equipment and monitored perceived government enemies.

Charged with Lacson were Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino, Magtanggol Gatdula, Dioscoro Reyes and Dennis Agaram, Superintendent John Lopez, Chief Inspector Steve Ludan, PO2s Giovanni Belen, Freddie Ferrer and Wendel Arinas, and Army T/Sgt. Arturo Tabang.

Gualberto said Lacson should be haled to court for perjury because he lied under oath when asked about the devices in last year’s Senate probe.

Lacson had then categorically declared that the PAOCTF had not acquired monitoring equipment from Armstrack. He said that while they had plans to acquire such devices this never pushed through because the equipment could not be adopted for use in local conditions.