Lacson hies off in Hong Kong

Controversial Sen. Panfilo Lacson left for Hong Kong yesterday supposedly to persuade a Hong Kong police detective and other possible witnesses to testify against former police undercover agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong.

According to Ong, Lacson went to Hong Kong to convince senior detective Ron Abbot to appear before the Senate to refute her charge that Lacson was involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and multiple murder.

"I got information that Lacson went to Hong Kong to convince Ron Abbot to testify against me at the Senate," Ong told reporters.

Lacson left on board Cathay Pacific Airlines flight CX 906 at 11 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, accompanied by foodchain businessman Jerome Tang, brother of Jimmy Tang of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce Inc.

Camp Crame sources said Jerome Tang also accompanied the senator sometime in June shortly after a joint police-military team went to Hong Kong and the US to gather evidence on Lacson’s alleged hidden wealth.

Military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus claimed Lacson went to Hong Kong in June to clear his accounts in Hong Kong banks.

Lacson, traveling under official passport DP 001801, told airport reporters yesterday he was going to Hong Kong for some rest and relaxation but he refused to say when he would return to the country.

When asked if he was traveling to the former Crown Colony to look for evidence to rebut the charges of Ong, he maintained that Ong did not have evidence against him.

"That woman is such a liar," he said in Filipino. "Why is she picking on me. My name was not on the check she presented during the Senate hearing. It was in the name of (police Director Reynaldo) Acop."

Lacson’s departure for Hong Kong came two days after controversial Chinese businessman Kamsin Wong, a contributor to Lacson’s campaign kitty in the last election, left for the same city on board a Philippine Airlines flight on Sept. 7.

Rosebud said Wong went to Hong Kong, allegedly to "make arrangements" with a Hong Kong-based crime triad to discredit her testimony before three Senate committees.

"Also, Kim Wong would make arrangements with his counterparts at the Hong Kong triad to concoct stories against me," Rosebud said, adding she was ready to face anybody.

"They can concoct all the lies they can make against me but I will stand by my testimonies. These people are capable of concocting stories against somebody they hate and they had been doing that in the past. So, nothing is new with these people," she added.

Ong, in her testimony before the three Senate committees on Sept. 3, linked Lacson and Wong in a supposed attempt to smuggle narcotics into the country from Hong Kong.

She claimed that during one of her undercover operations in 1998, she negotiated with a Hong Kong-based triad boss to push through with a big drug deal.

But her triad contacts canceled the deal because her principals at the Philippine National Police (PNP) had allegedly failed to pay for previous shipments.

Around this time, Rosebud said she also saw Wong conferring with top triad leaders in a Hong Kong hotel.

During the negotiations, Rosebud quoted the triad boss as saying he no longer wanted to deal with her group because of bad payments and was already in contact with another group which, the triad boss claimed, included a ranking police official.

During her testimony, Rosebud presented a copy of an airline flight manifesto which showed that Lacson and Wong traveled together to Hong Kong accompanied by fugitive former Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino. 

Also yesterday, Ong attended a forum with non-government organizations, hosted by a newly formed group, Katotohanan, at the Ateneo High School covered courts in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

Father Carmelo Caluag S.J., convenor of Katotohanan, said his group is pushing for truth to prevail in view of all the allegations against Lacson and other irregularities in the government. – With Rudy Santos and Aurea Calica