Drug den suspect says government froze P19-M assets, not P900 M

Alleged Pasig City shabu flea market operator Amin Imam Boratong said the government had frozen only P19 million of his cash and assets and not P900 million, as earlier reported.

Boratong said the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) arrived at the P900 million figure by “adding up the deposit entry in my bankbook and thus they arrived at the P900 million figure,” he said in a recent interview. “But what they actually found in my bankbook, which they have subsequently frozen, was only P19 million.”

Boratong said what his bankbook has shown were his withdrawals, also in millions, which he said he used in supporting his legal businesses, like the buy-and-sell of cars and other products.

Aside from the P 19 million cash, Boratong said the AMLC also froze his rice mill in Bulacan; his 2,000 square meter-lot in Barangay Sto. Tomas, Pasig, where the alleged shabu tiangge or flea market was located; a BMW he bought for P2 million in 2004; and a P6-million house at the Greenlands Village in Cainta.

Government witness Samer Palao led elements of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) to the assets and properties of Boratong, including a fleet of imported luxury cars.

Boratong said his P19 million cash and other frozen property did not come from his alleged earnings at the shabu market, which he said was operated by his elder brother, Palao, whose real name was Mangandama Boratong.

He said he could prove in court that his seized assets and property came from his businesses, such as trading in DVD and VCD discs in Greenhills, and cars and other products in Metro Manila and Mindanao. He also pointed out that his first wife, Memie, has a jewelry business.

“I must admit that some of my businesses are illegal and I’m not paying taxes for them,” Boratong said.

Defense witness Hadji Ibrahim Daluma said he gave P300,000 cash and three hectares of farm lands as a dowry to Boratong when he married Memie when he was still 15 years old. Daluma said he did not know what business Boratong was involved in despite his staying in his Cainta home during his numerous visits.

Boratong and his second wife, Sheryl Molera, is facing maintenance of a drug den charges before the chamber of Judge Abraham Borreta, of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court.

Lawyer Raymond Fortun said he will present two witnesses before Borreta to testify that the money and property seized by AMLC from Boratong came from his businesses and not as proceeds from the alleged shabu flea market.

Earlier, Boratong said the root cause of his quarrel with his elder brother was P5 million in total losses allegedly incurred by Palao when government agents raided his shabu tiangge on Feb. 10, 2006. The raid resulted in the confiscation of an undetermined amount of shabu and the arrest of more than 300 people.