DOJ chief orders probe of kidnap raps vs Lacson

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera has ordered an investigation into a criminal complaint filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) implicating Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the kidnapping of two Chinese nationals in separate incidents over 10 years ago.

Devanadera said a panel of state prosecutors would be created this week to conduct preliminary investigation on the allegation of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) National Capital Region office that Lacson and at least 17 other former police officers were behind the kidnapping of Chong Hiu Ming, 45, on Dec. 30, 1998 and Wong Kam Chong, 44, on Mar. 26, 1999 when he was still head of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

“Just like in any other preliminary investigation, we can assure Sen. Lacson of due process. He would be given a chance to submit his defense,” she explained.

In a six-page letter complaint last Nov. 13, the CIDG claimed that a total of 27 witnesses, including former police informant Mary “Rosebud” Ong and her siblings, told investigators that “despite the payment of huge ransoms the two (victims) were never released to their relatives are still missing.”

Police said the two remain missing, and the CIDG-NCR said the most recent evidence was a document confirming that the missing men “were indeed the subjects of cooperation between the PNP PRO4 and the PAOCTF on the one side and the (Hong Kong) Narcotics Bureau on the other.”