Ong likens Ping’s crime gang to Nazis

Noting that even fascist Adolf Hitler was elected to office in Germany, former police undercover agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong warned that the clique of Sen. Panfilo Lacson is shaping up into a Nazi party.

"Parang Nazi party na ’yang grupo ni Lacson (Lacson’s group is already like a Nazi party)," Ong told reporters over the weekend, referring to the German National Socialist Party that catapulted Hitler to power a few years before World War II.

But taking up the cudgels for his colleague in the
opposition, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also warned that Ong has yet to prove that Lacson is indeed involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and multiple murder.

Pimentel, however, supported the call of Ong’s protector, military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus, to revamp the country’s drug enforcement agencies.

Despite Pimentel’s disclaimer, Ong insisted that she would not retract her accusations and would prove the allegations she first exposed two years ago.

"I will prove it. I will never retract. I have the pieces of evidence that will show that the criminal links go all the way up to the top, to Ping Lacson," she said.

She conceded, however, that Lacson’s local and international "connections" are formidable enemies.

"Ngayon ko lang nakita kung gaano kagaling si Ping Lacson (I’ve only realized how good Ping Lacson is). He has connections everywhere, even in Hong Kong and the United States," she said.

"At ang galing niyang magtakip, lagi na lang mga bata niya ang gumagawa pero siya, napapalabas niya na wala siyang kasalanan (And he’s good at covering up, his boys are always the ones who do things but he manages to make it appear he has nothing to do with them)," she added.

Aside from Lacson, Ong has accused Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Reynaldo Acop and several other police officers, including her former boyfriend Senior Superintendent John Campos, of drug trafficking, kidnapping and multiple murder.

She said she expects the Lacson camp to launch a smear campaign against her but she declared she would face all the charges they would raise against her.

"What do I gain from these? All I want is a future where we can live in peace, free from drugs. I know this will not happen overnight but her I am, fighting it out," she said.

But Pimentel stressed that Ong would have to first substantiate her charges.

"Although the implication of Ong’s testimony is that Acop and Campos are both identified with Lacson at the time he was the chief of the PNP, there is no hard evidence against Lacson at this time," Pimentel said.

He said the three Senate committees currently investigating Ong’s charges are still awaiting official confirmation from the US Attorney General on Lacson’s alleged hidden wealth in the US.

Pimentel said he believes in some of Ong’s revelations except for the charge that Camp Crame, the PNP headquarters, was used as the center of the drug trade in the country in 1998.

"I believe that she indeed served as an undercover agent but her allegation that Camp Crame was the center of illegal drugs, that should be substantiated," he said.

At the same time, Pimentel also dismissed fears that the Philippines would turn into a "narco-state," expressing belief that it will not happen since both the government and the citizenry are very vigilant against the drug menace.

" I agree with the recommendation of Colonel Corpus on the necessity of a revamp. If they have sufficient basis in their report that there are certain policemen, (National Bureau of Investigation) agents, judges, prosecutors or Customs personnel, who are protecting or conniving with drug traffickers, that should be proven so that they would be weeded out of the service," he said.
However, he said one good thing that has come out of Corpus’ exposé is to make the people conscious of the gravity of the drug menace in the country.

What makes the problem doubly difficult, he said, is that law enforcers are the very people on whom the ordinary citizens turn to for protection against criminal elements.

"It’s very difficult to lick the problem if some policemen themselves are involved," Pimentel said.