Ping’s cell phones giving him away?

The team of Armed Forces intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus is now looking into several cellular phone numbers in its attempt to link Sen. Panfilo Lacson to a suspected drug lord.

Corpus told reporters yesterday that five cellphone numbers Lacson is reportedly using have been traced to Kamsia Wong, also known as Kim Wong, whom the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) believes to be a bigtime drug dealer.

The cell phone numbers — 0918-900-2188, 0918-900-2320, 0918-900-7171, 0918-900-7777 and 0918-971-7171 — were allegedly listed under Wong’s name by the phone company but are actually being used by Lacson or members of his staff.

"These numbers are traced to Kim Wong, so Ping Lacson cannot deny his connections with Wong because Wong himself provided his mobile phone numbers," Corpus said.

Lacson told The STAR in a telephone interview last night that he indeed knew a certain Kim Wong and that he used his cell phone for sometime in the past.

But he said the Kim Wong he knew is not a drug lord but a restaurant owner who is also a friend of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and former Manila police director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon.

"What Corpus needs is a psychiatrist," Lacson said. "He’s been saying so many bad things about me which he can never prove. The Kim Wong I know is a Filipino, not a Chinese national and never a drug lord."

A check made by this paper revealed that among the phone numbers given by Corpus, only the 0918-900-2188 was working. And it was busy for an entire hour when The STAR called last night. The other phone numbers were either invalid or "cannot be reached at this time."

Corpus branded the phone numbers with "71" as "vanity numbers." He noted that "71" seemed to be Lacson’s favorite number, having graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1971.

Reporters covering the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame were not surprised at the revelation. They remember that Lacson’s men even referred to him as "71" when he was still chief of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force and the number was also Lacson’s call sign in the two-way radio being used by the police force.

Corpus said the cellphone numbers he revealed were considered "confidential" and would not immediately be made available by cellphone companies because of the request of the subscriber.

He said his men stumbled upon the numbers in February when they began investigating Lacson who was then still head of the PNP.

Corpus urged the Senate to push through with its probe of Lacson. He stressed that the investigation should focus not only on the senator’s alleged $700-million stash in foreign banks, but also on the source of his so-called hidden wealth.

"These are the fruits of crime," he alleged. "What we should determine is from where these multimillion-dollar accounts came from."

Lacson has vehemently denied maintaining rich bank accounts abroad. He has challenged Corpus to take all the money he could find and even gave the ISAFP chief authority to withdraw from his alleged bank accounts.

"I will go to jail without trial if they can prove their charges," he said. "But they can all go to hell if they fail to prove that I’m guilty."

The STAR tried to reach Lacson for comment on the cellphone numbers Corpus revealed but he was not available.

Meanwhile, a ranking PNP official refused to release the statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) filed by Lacson during his incumbency as PNP chief.

Director Thompson Lantion, who heads the PNP’s directorate for police community relations, said he does not have the authority to release the SAL of any former and present PNP official even though these are considered public records.

"Unless there is an investigation or a body asking the PNP for Senator Lacson’s SAL, we cannot release it," he said. "I am not blocking anything. It’s just that these things are not under my jurisdiction." – With Aurea Calica