Remember Mawanay? He back to seek DOJ protection from Lacson

MANILA, Philippines – From out of the blue, controversial witness Angelo Mawanay deal.

Gonzalez first advised Mawanay to file a police report and submit his written statement to the DOJ for evaluation.
Mawanay claimed he was referred to the DOJ by Speaker Prospero Nograles and was even accompanied by Nograles’ chief of staff to the DOJ yesterday.

Mawanay claimed he was an agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) during the Estrada administration. In August 2001, he accused Lacson of involvement in drug trafficking and hidden wealth, but failed to produce evidence.

A “star witness” of former Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces yesterday surfaced at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and asked for protection after he was allegedly pressured by Sen. Panfilo Lacson to testify in the Senate’s probe of the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, however, said he is not taking Mawanay’s claim at face value and instead ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to verify his claim.

“I am inclined to take his statements with a grain of salt,” said Gonzalez, adding they are still double-checking Mawanay’s recent allegation against Lacson. Mawanay claimed that Lacson contacted him and ordered him to testify in the ongoing NBN-ZTE hearings at the Senate.

He said he has no knowledge of the overseas bank accounts of some individuals involved in the of the Philippines (ISAFP) chief Victor Corpus, along with former narcotics agent Mary “Rosebud” Ong, Mawanay claimed Lacson deposited millions he made from illegal drug trading and kidnapping in bank accounts in Hong Kong and the United States.

Mawanay also linked Lacson’s men – former Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao – to the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito. Mawanay also claimed that Lacson ordered the killing of Casino Filipino employee Edgar Bentain, who leaked a videotape showing former President Joseph Estrada gambling with Atong Ang.

Lacson was chief of the Philippine National Police during Estrada’s administration.

Mawanay also claimed that Sen. Loren Legarda purchased P8.9-million worth of smuggled cellular phones from him, and that he delivered a shoebox filled with cash to Sen. Noli de Castro in 2001.

The money allegedly came from Lacson.

He was detained by the Senate sergeant at arms until he could prove his allegations against the three senators, but he was spirited away by ISAFP agents.

In April 2004, Mawanay held a press conference to deny all his allegations. He said he was “pressured” by Corpus, then National Bureau of Investigation

Director Reynaldo Wycoco, and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to make those accusations against Lacson and other opposition senators.

He said Corpus asked him to hack into the purported bank accounts of Lacson to find money laundered from illegal drugs but found nothing.