Ping expected to face accusers today

Will the face-off finally take place today?

Sen. Robert Barbers predicted an "explosive" session this morning by a joint Senate panel, with embattled Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Acop appearing for the first time to answer the charges leveled against them by the military’s intelligence chief and a former police undercover agent.

"I heard that General Acop will do a lot of talking and name persons not previously identified," said Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs.

Acop, former chief of the Philippine National Police-Narcotics Group and the Southern Tagalog PNP office, was among the police officers tagged by Mary "Rosebud" Ong as involved in drug trafficking.

He told reporters yesterday he would destroy the credibility of Ong by linking her to credit card fraud and illegal gambling.

Lacson, on the other hand, decided to confront Col. Victor Corpus, chief of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), and Ong after she linked him the other day to the summary execution of suspected Chinese drug lords.

Lacson had backed down on a previous decision to attend the Senate hearing and confront Corpus reportedly upon advice of fellow opposition senators Edgardo Angara and Vicente Sotto III.

Barbers said that Lacson may appear either as a committee member or as a resource person.

"But if he appears as a resource person, he will have to take the oath to tell the committees nothing but the truth," Barbers stressed.

The Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Joker Arroyo and the committee on national defense headed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. are also jointly conducting the investigation in aid of legislation, with Barbers’ panel as the lead committee.

Even if Lacson will appear as a resource person on his own behalf and, therefore, will sit at the table directly in front of the senators, he will still be allowed to join his colleagues later to question other resource persons.

Barbers, however, said that Lacson might appear only as a committee member and would be asking questions to resource persons like Corpus and Ong.

He also said that upon recommendation of Lacson, the hearing committees invited a certain Phoebe Astudillo reportedly to refute Ong’s claims.

A ranking committee member, however, said that Lacson might be placed in a compromising position should he decide to ask questions only.

"He might not be able to handle the situation because one never knows what the witness might reply to his questions. If he flares up or gets tongue-tied after a reply, patay siya (he’s dead)," a senator who requested anonymity said.

Aside from Astudillo, Acop and Ong, today’s hearing will also have as resource persons Ong’s former lover Superintendent John Campos, Senior Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, Chief Superintendent Reynor Gonzales of the PNP NarGroup, and lawyer Evaristo Gana, Lacson’s chief of staff.

Meanwhile. Sen. Blas Ople filed yesterday a resolution calling on the Senate investigating committees to wrap up their hearings on the Corpus charges by Oct. 15 "after they have given Senator Lacson a chance to refute the charges against him."

"By putting a cap to the hearings, the senators will be able to discipline the inquiry and restructure it if necessary for greater efficiency and effectiveness," Ople said.

He also chided Arroyo for making a "sarcastic" comment on his proposal to put a cap on the hearings, saying it was based on a misunderstanding of his (Ople’s) proposal.

"I did not propose any abrupt end to the hearings, only to put a cap or a deadline because these unverified and unresolved charges were damaging the country’s institutions and demoralizing the citizenry," Ople said. — Efren Danao