How not to protect a drug witness

Agent Morris (real name: Jonathan Morales) was once assigned to the intelligence unit of the PNP Narcotics Group in Camp Crame. At noon one day in mid-Dec. 2000, at the height of Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial, Morales was called to the office of his superior, Supt. Pancho Hubilla, who had just come from the headquarters nearby of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force. Hubilla ordered him to drive a Nissan Sentra sedan (plate number UGR-847) to the PAOCTF compound and hand over the key to Sr. Supt. Michael Ray Aquino, the elite group’s operations head. Back at his desk an hour later, Morales was again called to Hubilla’s office. Hubilla informed him that then-PAOCTF and PNP chief Dir. Gen. Panfilo Lacson would soon call, for they were being eyed to form a new counter-terror unit. Hubilla’s cellphone rang, and he put his arm on Morales’ shoulders as they walked down the hall. "Yes, Sir, I’ll have Agent Morris handle it," Morales head him say before hanging up. Hubilla whispered to Morales: "Do you want to be an LBC (courier) of shabu? There’s big money in it, and you’ll become close to the Chief-PNP(Lacson)." Before Morales could reply, Hubilla went on: "You will retrieve the car from PAOCTF, drive down to the corner of T. Mapua and F. Yuseco streets near Blumentritt, Manila, and meet up with one Jimmy Sy. The car will contain 20 kilos of shabu. Handle it with care because Chief-PNP had wanted it delivered two days back, just that Sr. Insp. Crisostomo Mendoza didn’t show up."

At PAOCTF, Hardy Vasquez, an ex-cop who had ushered Morales in earlier, gave back the car key. As Morales was about to drive off, Vasquez patted him, "Don’t forget my cut, okay?" Morales felt no fear; he felt he was in Lacson’s good hands. His career was about to rise, so long as he did a good job. Remembering what his boss said, he pulled over to a restaurant parking lot near the corner of Santolan Road and Ortigas Avenue to check the stuff. There were two black bags on the rear seat. He counted ten plastic bags of the white powder in each. Twenty kilos alright.

At around 2:30 p.m., Morales called Hubilla to say he was nearing the San Lazaro hippodrome. He was told to wait there a while as Hubilla was still "sanitizing" the area. After a phone call from Hubilla, Morales proceeded to the drop-off point. The Chinese-looking Jimmy Sy hopped in and, in fluent Tagalog, told him to drive on to the corner of F. Yuseco and J. Abad-Santos streets. There, Sy dropped him off and gave him P5,000 "for taxi fare."

That was just his first shabu run. He did other "missions," including "arresting" drug lords for extortion. A memorable one was about a drug dealer named Boyet Melendrez. Morales and Hubilla were called to the "white house," the Chief-PNP’s official residence inside Camp Crame, for instructions. On the way there, Hubilla told Morales that Lacson had received several complaints that Melendrez, a distant cousin of Estrada’s mistress, had muscled into their drug territory. The guy wasn’t only giving them a run for their money; aided by active-duty and ex-cops, he was also shaking down their street pushers and customers. Introduced to the chief, Morales was ordered to study how to do Melendrez in. He was told to steer clear of his kumpare, ex-cop Apolinario Sabino who was in the Melendrez gang. After months of tailing, Morales’ team accosted Melendrez and his friend Jaypee Silverio one night in Caniogan, Pasig City. He immediately called Hubilla, who said he’d ask Lacson for instructions. Hubilla called and told Morales to bring the two and their Toyota Car to the PAOCTF compound. A Mitsubishi van with PAOCTF operatives was waiting there. They drove to Cavite, where they slew Melendrez and Silverio, and burned their bodies in their car.

Morales narrated all this to State Prosecutor Gina N. Bibat-Palamos in the form of a sworn statement on Sept. 24, 2001. At that time, the Senate was conducting hearings on accusations of AFP intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus and former narc agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong about Senator Lacson’s narcotrafficking and money laundering. The justice department took Morales under the Witness Protection Program, and told him he would soon testify. But justice officials did not tell Corpus about him.

Also on Sept. 24, 2001, Morales signed another sworn statement before State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco. He narrated that on Sept. 12, Hubilla found out that he was coming in from the cold and confronted him with a list of callphone and land-line calls to and from his friend, Chief Insp. Rodrigo Bonifacio. He was disarmed of his service pistol and forced to draft a statement that Bonifacio had coerced him to turn against Hubilla and Lacson. Morales did sign that statement, but recanted it on Sept. 24.

The Senate hearings ended in Oct., but not before Lacson accused Justice Secretary Hernando Perez of stashing $2 million in Coutts Bank-Hong Kong, courtesy of Rep. Mark Jimenez and coursed through their common friend Ernest Escaler. Morales never got to testify, for reasons only Perez knows. Lacson never again mentioned the $2-million deposit during Perez’s confirmation hearings in December.

Last week, Rosebud went to the press to denounce Perez for kicking Morales out of the Witness Protection Program on Jan. 3. "Drug money has apparently reached the justice system," she said as she recounted how Perez had stripped three other witnesses – Ador Mawanay, Phoebe Astudillo, Rebecca Agana – of police protection. Agana, too, had executed a statement before Prosecutor Velasco on Sept. 15, 2001 linking Hubilla and higher-ups to the narcotrade. "Am I next to be taken out of the WPP?" Rosebud shuddered. Perez would know.

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Ukay-ukay is fun, right? But did you know it’s illegal? We will tackle this and garments smuggling tonight at 11:30 p.m. on Linawin Natin over IBC-13. Guests: Customs Dep. Comm. Rey Allas and William King of the Federation of Philippine Textile Industries.

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