‘Rosebud’ tags Lacson in slay of 3 drug

Former civilian police agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong tagged Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday as the brains behind the abduction and summary execution of at least three suspected Chinese drug lords in 1999.

Resuming her testimony at a Senate hearing on the accusations against Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), Ong identified the victims as Hong Kong nationals Chong Hui Ming, Wong Kam Chong and Chan Ka Tseung.

Ong said the three suspects were separately picked up and allegedly summarily executed by Narcotics Group (NarGroup) agents on orders of Lacson.

It was called "biyahe" or trip – the slang for summary execution. And after Chong and Wong were murdered, their bodies were chopped to pieces and the bones pulverized, Ong told the Senate committees on public order and illegal drugs, national defense and the Blue Ribbon.

Chong was allegedly snatched on Dec. 30, 1998 by a police team led by Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Acop as head of the NarGroup’s intelligence division, two days after the victim arrived in Manila from Hong Kong.

Ong presented a copy of Chong’s passport to prove that the alleged member of the Hong Kong-based international drug syndicate or triad indeed came to Manila to oversee their drug shipment.

She said Superintendent John Campos, then assigned with the NarGroup, demanded 10 kilos of shabu from Chong in exchange for the release of three other arrested suspected drug traffickers identified as Eduardo Hong Ling Ong, Ah Kiat and Lee Ming You who were reportedly arrested that same month while in possession of shabu and firearms.

The witness asserted that Wong was abducted on March 26, 1999 in connection with "Operation Cyclops" carried out by the PAOCTF and the PNP Southern Tagalog command.

According to Ong, Chong and Wong were detained and tortured by their captors, and were eventually summarily executed on May 19 in Laguna.

"I was asked by Colonel John Campos to lie to Chong Hui Ming and Wong Kam Chong that they will be released. They were then asked to dress up. I was told by Captain Avelino Abogado that they were bringing the two victims to Laguna as there was another retired police officer waiting for them," Ong said.

She identified the killers of Wong and Chong as Campos, Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, Senior Inspectors Julius Mana, Ricardo Watanabe and Abogado.

She recalled that Abogado, Watanabe and Campos escorted the victims to a Mercedes-Benz van with license plates URX-928.

Ong recounted that Villaroman later reported to Acop and Chief Superintendent Francisco Zubia that the execution of Wong and Chong were carried out cleanly, saying the bodies were chopped to pieces before they were burned and the bones pulverized.

Wong was tagged as the owner of 200 kilos of shabu retrieved by the authorities from the waters off Mindoro island. The seizure prompted the creation of Oplan Cyclops meant to net Wong and tap him to pinpoint the syndicate’s safehouses and warehouses in the country.

Ong said she was present when Acop phoned Lacson to inform him of their decision to "salvage" Wong.

Ong said Lacson was fuming mad because Wong had not been eliminated.

On the other hand, Chan was picked up on July 25, 1999 from his unit at the San Juan apartments along Roxas Boulevard for suspicion of being a member of the Triad.

Instead of filing drug charges against him, Villaroman allegedly took custody of the prisoner on Aug. 3, 1999 and demanded a P5 million ransom from the suspect’s wife, identified as Wong Lai Ting.

Ong said Chan was subsequently executed after his wife failed to deliver the money.

The witness averred that Lacson knew all about the three abductions and summary executions since he would always ask Acop about developments in their operations.

She claimed Lacson and Acop would often argue over money and cars.

She said she was hired as an undercover agent and interpreter by Lacson in 1993 because she could speak fluent Mandarin, Fookien and Cantonese. She also said she used to work with the so-called "Binondo Central Bank."

Ong also narrated that she personally talked with Lacson in Hong Kong in the presence of a local policeman identified as Ron Abbot. In that meeting, Ong said she complained to Lacson that she was being marginalized as an undercover agent.

Ping vows to confront Rosebud

Lacson vehemently belied Ong’s allegations, adding he would attend the joint hearing for the first time tomorrow "to confront the issue."

"Finally, my name has cropped up. It was mentioned before in mere rhetoric, now she said I went to Hong Kong, accusing me of something," Lacson said.

While he admitted being in Hong Kong on the date mentioned by Ong, Lacson denied meeting her there.

The neophyte senator insisted that Ong was never an agent of the PAOCTF.

He also asserted that the task force was not part of Oplan Cyclops. "It was not a joint operation," he said.

During the hearing, Ong also presented bank deposit and withdrawal slips pertaining to the account of Campos, who she claimed was a former lover and was also involved in drug trafficking.

She likewise presented a diagram of a flow chart regarding earnings from the drug trade.

Ong spoke of "accidental slay victims" such as a man who used to supply prostitutes to drug suspects.

"An interpreter who told Kim Wong about a drug shipment was killed in April 2000," she said, apparently referring to Angelito Sy who reportedly worked as Chinese interpreter of the task force.

Sen. Robert Barbers, chairman of the committee on public order and illegal drugs, said they have issued an invitation to the mother and sister of Sy, but the two declined.

Ong also linked Martin Soriano, a controversial agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, to the illicit drug trade.

She claimed she was once abducted by Soriano’s group, but was released upon the intercession of Campos.

DOJ hopes to get evidence on Ping’s US bank accounts

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said they have asked the Senate to resume its inquiry on Lacson’s dollar accounts in the US.

Perez said they expect vital documents on the questioned bank accounts of Lacson from his American counterpart, the Attorney General.

"Hopefully, upon the resumption of the session of the Senate, our department might be ready with the documents we requested from the United States," Perez told reporters.

Congress is set to go on recess on Friday and resume sessions on Sept. 24.

Invoking the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US, Perez requested his American counterpart to conduct a verification of Lacson’s foreign bank accounts as alleged by military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus.

Perez clarified that the exchange of correspondence was taking some time because the matter has to go through the courts, akin to an extradition request.

The secretary appeared optimistic about getting some documentary evidence on Lacson’s foreign bank accounts, adding that he himself had seen a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding such bank deposits.

Perez said that based on what he had seen, Lacson indeed maintained a number of bank accounts in the US, but refused to say how much.

In another development, lawyer Argee Guevarra, legal counsel of government witness Angelo "Ador" Mawanay who also implicated Lacson in several illegal activities, warned that some police officials were trying to undermine the cases they were trying to build up against Lacson.

"These pro-Lacson groups are resorting to plain demagoguery in the hope of deceiving the people into believing that the accusations against Sen. Lacson and ranking police officials are orchestrated no less by foreign crime syndicates," Guevarra said in a statement.

"This is intended to paint Lacson and his ilk as hapless victims in order to turn around the public’s growing perception that they are indeed the Triad’s criminal confederates in the Philippines," the statement added.

Meanwhile, top police officials noted that the Senate inquiry was "losing focus" and might end up bagging only what they called the "little Indians."

The officials, who were closely watching the proceedings, were apprehensive that Lacson and leaders of big-time crime rings might go scot-free.

"For now, we fear that all these accusations against Lacson will simply end up to the level of Aquino and Mancao," the sources said, referring to former PAOCTF officials Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao who were reported to have fled to the US late last month. — With reports from Delon Porcalla, Jaime Laude