Three Senate committees yesterday said in a report that there was "prima facie" evidence linking Sen. Panfilo Lacson to drug trafficking and kidnap-for-ransom activities.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the committees on national defense and public order and illegal drugs have recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursue the investigation into allegations of Lacson’s criminal involvement and file the appropriate charges against the former national police chief and other police officials.
Sen. Robert Barbers, chairman of the committee on public order and illegal drugs, formally sponsored committee report 237 (formerly committee report 66) for plenary debate.
Barbers also recommended that the DOJ pursue its investigation of Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Acop, Superintendent Francisco Villaroman and the late Superintendent John Campos, and file the appropriate charges "if evidence warrants it."
Barbers said the joint Senate committees chaired by himself, Sen. Joker Arroyo of Blue Ribbon and Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. of national defense "found out that Lacson, then head of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force was accountable for neglect of duty, under the doctrine of command responsibility, in connection with the illegal activities of certain PAOCTF officials and men who were directly under his control and supervision."
Lacson, who was present when Barbers sponsored committee report 237, did not interpellate Barbers. Instead, he "assailed and rebutted" all the contents of the report.
Lacson, former Philippine National Police chief during the short-lived term of ousted President Joseph Estrada, said Barbers’ sponsorship of the report was "political." He accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of financing the efforts to discredit him.
"To prove that the purpose of this is political, Col. Victor Corpus, former chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), was reporting to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo at his... LTA building in Makati (City)," Lacson said.
He added that Corpus "received a substantial amount of money to finance his effort to vilify (me)."
The three committees recommended that the Office of the Ombudsman conduct its own probe and file the appropriate charges against Lacson, Acop and Villaroman if evidence warrants it.
Barbers said his committee also recommended that the executive department should "minimize and regulate" the use of task forces to prevent abuse and human rights violations.
Lacson said committee report 237 contains the same "unfounded" allegations made by "incredible" witnesses — Mary Rose "Rosebud" Ong and Ador Mawanay.
"After a fact-finding commission, the Office of the Ombudsman resolved to dismiss charges against me based on the same testimonies of witnesses Ong and Mawanay and the evidence presented by prosecutors.
"The Ombudsman, however, filed a case before the Sandiganbayan indicting Acop, Villaroman and others for direct bribery," Lacson said.
He also said the same allegations were filed by Ong before the CIDG and the DOJ. "Ong, in conspiracy with Corpus, brought the same thing to the Senate and, unfortunately, we are caught in the trap."
"I have filed a libel suit against (columnist) Ramon Tulfo, reporters and editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Ong in Las Piñas. They are now out on bail," he added.
Lacson was critical of the three committees for submitting the report, which contains the statements of "a discredited witness, such as Mawanay."
Lacson further argued that "Ong’s statements have full inconsistencies (sic) and she has no credibility. She is unreliable and her statement was even declared by the Senate to be expunged from the records."
According to him, "the Senate fell into the trap of trial by publicity. Ong is a pathological liar."
Barbers, for his part, said that during the joint committee hearings, "we painstakingly focused on the issue... of narco-politics in the country... because, under the almost surreal glare of the media and amidst the maddening frenzy of accusations and counter-accusations, it was easy to be distracted and fail to see the real picture."
Barbers expressed satisfaction that the joint committees "ably steered the course in the rough seas of the investigation."
The Senate national defense committee signatories to the report were the late Sen. Renato Cayetano, Sens. Juan Flavier, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Loren Legarda, Noli de Castro, Manuel Villar, Magsaysay and Arroyo.
The report signatories for the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs were: Flavier, Magsaysay, Cayetano, Pangilinan, Legarda, Barbers and Villar.
The Blue Ribbon committee signatories to the report were Arroyo, Barbers, Magsaysay, Cayetano, De Castro, Flavier, Pangilinan and Recto. – Jose Rodel Clapano