Probe reveals 4th Alabang Boy

MANILA, Philippines - There was a fourth suspect in the controversial Ayala Alabang drug sting operations conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the independent panel created by President Arroyo to investigate the alleged bribery in the case learned during the ninth day of hearing yesterday.

PDEA agents held another person aside from Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson who were arrested during successive operations in Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City and Cubao, Quezon City on Sept. 20, 2008.

Romy Javier, chief security officer of the Ayala Alabang Village, testified before the panel that the security guards listed another person, identified as Patrick Aranza, among those arrested by PDEA.

Javier said Aranza is a resident of the village and was supposedly arrested with Joseph inside the latter’s white pick-up, citing the affidavit submitted by their office to the investigating prosecutors at the Department of Justice.

“I was told in the morning of Sept. 20 by duty security officer Jose Torrendon that there was a buy-bust operation by the PDEA inside our area earlier in that morning. I was informed about it at around 6 a.m. already because I missed his (Torrendon’s) call around midnight,” Javier explained.

Aranza is a grandson of Rubenso Rubios, also resident of Ayala Alabang Village.

Surprised by the new name in the case, panel member Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, dean of the San Beda College’s School of Law, asked Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, head of the PDEA special enforcement service that conducted the operations, about the fourth suspect.

Marcelino admitted to the panel that there was a fourth person arrested during their operation, although he was unsure if it was the same one listed by the village security office since his men reported a different name, Patrick El Khoury. It was later verified that Aranza and El Khoury were the same person.

“But that Patrick (Aranza) was released on the night of that same day because based on circumstance, there was no evidence against him,” Marcelino explained.

“He (Aranza) was not our target and he was innocent,” argued Marcelino, who even recalled that the PDEA agents gave Aranza P500 to buy gasoline after he was released from the PDEA headquarters.

The panel did not summon Aranza to appear on the last day of the fact-finding investigation today.

Earlier in yesterday’s hearing, the commander of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) testified and denied helping PDEA gather evidence on the alleged bribery of Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors handling the case of Brodett, Joseph and Tecson, known as the “Alabang Boys.”

ISAFP chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza denied that the agency was cooperating with the PDEA in collecting evidence that could prove that prosecutors were bribed to dismiss the drug trafficking charges filed against the three Alabang Boys.

The panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court justice Carolina Griño-Aquino, cited a Philippine STAR report that the ISAFP allegedly helped PDEA gather intelligence information nailing DOJ prosecutors to bribery allegations.

Prestoza denied the accusation under oath.

Next to take the witness stand was Roberto Limcauco, uncle of suspect Brodett, who witnessed the arrest inside Ayala Alabang Village.

He told the panel that while he saw his nephew being arrested by PDEA men, he did not do anything to intervene.

“All I was looking at was his physical state, for him to be treated with his injuries. The law enforcers were already there. They were doing their job so I did not interfere anymore,” Limcauco explained.