‘Presidential son’ tied to drug trade

Beleaguered police Superintendent John Campos tagged yesterday a "presidential son" as a coddler of drug traffickers, saying the alleged son worked for the release of a suspected drug pusher arrested in 1996.

Campos refused to publicly identify the presidential son, but submitted the name to Sen. Robert Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs now conducting an inquiry on the alleged involvement of opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the illegal drugs trade.

Campos claimed the presidential son visited one of the suspects arrested in a buy-bust operation at the Multinational Village in Parañaque City in January 1996.

He said the mere presence of the presidential son compelled them to drop their investigation of the case, but did not say if they simply freed the suspects.

Barbers and Sen. Joker Arroyo asked Campos if the man he was referring to was a son of former President Fidel Ramos, who was president in 1996.

Arroyo said Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Acop also told him about the alleged intervention of the presidential son in the case mentioned by Campos.

At yesterday’s hearing, Campos also belied allegations by former police civilian agent Mary Ong, alias "Rosebud," against him and Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, a colleague in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

The two police officials denied having participated in any kidnapping and summary execution of drug suspects as alleged by Ong.

Testifying earlier at the Senate hearing, Ong accused Campos and Villaroman of complicity in the abduction and salvaging of at least three suspected Chinese drug traffickers.

She also accused the police officials of recycling or selling back to the underground market confiscated illegal drugs.

Villaroman charged that former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Roberto Lastimoso implicated him in alleged criminal activities as revealed by Ong, but was supposed to hit only Lacson, Acop and Campos.

Villaroman said Lastimoso wanted to get even with him for causing his relief as PNP chief.

Villaroman said he bared Lastimoso’s intervention for suspected drug lord Rafael Madrazo, who was arrested in 1997 under Oplan Smart, adding that the mechanics he drew up for the operation was even used by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in trying to drag four senators to the drug case.

Villaroman alleged that Lastimoso used Col. Victor Corpus, now chief of ISAFP, to pin him down, along with Lacson and other ranking officials of PAOCTF.

Senators want Ping to attend hearings

Members of the two Senate committees conducting the hearings on the criminal charges against Lacson want him to testify and air his side.

A senator, who asked not to be identified, said the committee on public order and illegal drugs and the committee on national defense conducting the joint inquiry should invite Lacson to attend the hearings since his name is continually mentioned by the witnesses.

"But that’s only if he wants to. It is still his prerogative whether to come or not. We don’t want him to accuse us of not communicating to him the developments of the investigation," the source said.

However, Lacson rejected the idea, saying it would be inappropriate for him to attending the inquiry, set to resume on Friday.

"No, I’m not gong (to attend the hearings)," Lacson said.

He pointed out that as a senator, he must be invited only as a resource person but only by the ethics committee.

The source also noted that in the course of the Senate inquiry, the involvement of the controversial PAOCTF in police operations against drug trafficking was being gradually brought into the open.

Campos confirmed this, saying the PAOCTF coordinated with the Narcotics Group (Narcgroup) in conducting anti-drug operations, including the rescue of kidnapped Chinese nationals who turned out to be suspected members of a Hong Kong-based drug syndicate or triad.

Lawyer Evaristo Gana, who worked in the PAOCTF’s foreign liaison group, also said the task force was involved in anti-drug operations.

Acop, former Narcgroup chief, has denied links between Narcgroup and the PAOCTF in an apparent bid to dissociate himself from Lacson.

The source pointed out, however, that if the PAOCTF were also into narcotics operations, it was possible that it worked with the Narcgroup.

Meanwhile, Acop admitted that life for him and his seven colleagues who were former classmates at the Philippine Military Academy had become miserable since the Senate started its investigation on the charges against Lacson.

Acop lamented that they have been on floating status since January, saying "Our only fault was being associated with Senator Lacson."

Acop said he deliberately did not attend yesterday’s committee hearings upon the advice of his lawyer to give his colleagues a chance to defend themselves, notably Villaroman and Campos.

"It is very clear that there are efforts (by ISAFP) to bolster the allegations of Mary Ong," Acop said.

Citing information allegedly provided by pro-Lacson groups inside ISAFP, Acop claimed Corpus has been persuading the management of an airline company and a stewardess to link him and Lacson to the 40 kilos of shabu intercepted recently at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Acop also said charged that some of his men were being pressured to testify against him and Lacson.

He accused the PNP hierarchy of fabricating evidence against him and Lacson.

"This may not stop until 2004," he said.