No direct evidence in bribery case - PDEA officials

Officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday admitted the lack of evidence to directly prove the allegations of bribery against prosecutors who ordered the release of the three “Alabang Boys” charged with drug trafficking.

PDEA director general Dionisio Santiago and chief enforcer Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino both admitted before an independent fact-finding panel that the allegations of bribery against prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ) who ordered the release of the three drug suspects were based on claims of informants.

Marcelino though maintained their information came from reliable sources. He described them as “A1” informants.

“One of our informants, who was from one of the families of the three (suspects), told me that the suspects would be released before Christmas. According to another informant, the parties would just use the money that we refused to accept to ‘fix’ the DOJ,” Marcelino told the panel.

The panel was formed by Malacañang to investigate the allegations of bribery against the DOJ prosecutors in the release of the three Alabang Boys, sons of wealthy families accused of drug trafficking by the PDEA.

The independent panel is led by retired Supreme Court justice Carolina Griño-Aquino, with retired Sandiganbayan justice Raoul Victorino and San Beda law school dean Fr. Ranhillo Aquino as members.

Marcelino reiterated his earlier testimony at the House committee on dangerous drugs that he was offered bribe money by the camp of suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson.

Marcelino, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, said a PMA classmate personally relayed to him a supposed offer from the Tecsons, who are in the construction business, of P3 million in exchange for weakening the charges against the suspects.

He claimed an informant dissuaded him from working hard on the case since prosecutors had already been bribed to dismiss it.

Santiago also claimed he was even accused of receiving a bribe to drop the charges against one of the suspects.

Both PDEA officials argued, however, their admission of lack of evidence to support the allegations does not necessarily mean that bribery had not taken place.

They said money could have changed hands “under the table.”

Santiago suggested that the panel should consider looking at the paper trail through an investigation of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Santiago said he started to suspect that bribery took place after the case filed against the three Alabang Boys was suddenly thrown out notwithstanding the strong evidence against them.

Marcelino, for his part, said that he changed his mind about the intention of Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, one of those directly implicated in the bribery scandal.

Marcelino said Blancaflor even called twice to inquire about the continued detention of the suspects even after the resolution dismissing the case on Dec. 19.

It was on the same day that Blancaflor allegedly received P2.4 million in his Metrobank account, he said.

Marcelino also accused State Prosecutor John Resado of trying to control the evidence to be presented in the case against the suspects.

In the same hearing, Resado denied Marcelino’s allegation.

The Malacañang-created panel investigating the Alabang Boys’ bribery mess also summoned yesterday four journalists who made reports crucial to the investigation.

They are The STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc, this reporter, STAR reporter Mike Frialde, and Ricky Carandang of ABS-CBN. – With Delon Porcalla, Michael Punongbayan