Spy gadgets now with police; raps being readied vs

Around P30 million worth of bugging equipment allegedly used by the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force are now in the police’s hands, and could constitute new evidence against embattled Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former PAOCTF head.

The equipment were seized at a purported "listening post" in Pasig City last Monday, and were said to have been used by Lacson to spy on former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson and other perceived enemies of the deposed Estrada administration.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza formed a task force yesterday to determine the criminal charges to be filed against Lacson and other PAOCTF officials.

"These are very dangerous equipment when given to unauthorized personnel. These can destroy a government and the reputation of people," Mendoza said.

The police chief also lauded Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya and members of the intelligence group for the successful operation.

"The equipment are believed to be used by Sen. Panfilo Lacson during his term as PAOCTF chief to monitor the activities of... Singson and other political personalities antagonizing the Erap (Estrada) administration at the height of the Erap impeachment proceedings," Berroya said.

Among the paraphernalia seized during last Monday’s raid on the "listening post" were a GA 900 phone interceptor, a digital directional finder with brand name "Rhode and Schwarz," assorted wirings, a laptop computer, a digital power supply, digital radio communication tester, and digital processing unit and converter.

They were confiscated during police operations at the Discovery Suites along Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City.

During the raid, police agents also arrested Dean Edgar Ablan and Gertudes de Leon, president and vice president of the Armstrack Corp., which claims to be the local authorized distributor of the equipment.

Also apprehended were Isaias Braga, said to be a retired colonel, SPO1 George Gabiano and SPO1 Leo Carriaso.

Ablan and De Leon have both signed an affidavit implicating the PAOCTF officials in the illegal wiretapping activities on Singson and key Estrada impeachment trial witnesses.

Berroya quoted from paragraph 14 of the affidavit: "Sometime during the Chavit Singson exposé at the Club Filipino, we together with Miss Bonnie... Velasco saw the equipment being used by the PAOCTF in the actual operation."

In an interview, Ablan said the bugging devices were placed in a Toyota Hi-Ace van which was parked in front of the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, where Singson first publicly accused Estrada of amassing billions of pesos from jueteng operations.

Reporters who covered the event, which sparked the impeachment trial and Estrada’s eventual ouster, indeed recalled that several PAOCTF agents in civilian clothing were seen within the premises of the historic restaurant.

During a parallel Senate inquiry on the wiretapping controversy by the PAOCTF last December, Lacson and his men denied procuring the spying devices, saying these would not hold up under the country’s humid weather conditions.

Mendoza said the newly formed team will gather enough evidence to indict Lacson and his men for violation of the Anti-Wiretapping Law as well as for perjury.

He did not say whether Ablan and De Leon will be used as state witness against Lacson and his men, including Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula and Army Col. Dioscoro Reyes, who allegedly tried to cover up the purchase of the state-of-the-art bugging equipment.