Thank you, Mr. President.

This Representation will not interpellate the distinguished sponsor of Committee Report No. 237. Instead, I have decided to rebut and assail all the points raised in the said committee report including the committee findings and recommendations which will be the bases for a motion that I will put on the table later, if I may be allowed, Mr. President.

(The President: Proceed) Senator Lacson. No. 1. The same accusations made by Mary Ong and other witnesses presented before the joint Senate Committees that investigated this case earlier submitted in affidavit forms before the Office of the Ombudsman wherein after a fact-finding investigation and even a preliminary investigation were conducted on the matter, the Office of the Ombudsman resolved to dismiss, for lack of merit, all the allegations against this representation - kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking - but filed the information indicting Police Director Reynaldo Acop, Supt. Francisco Villaroman and others before the Sandiganbayan for the crime of direct bribery.

No. 2. The same charges stemming from the allegations or the same allegations were then filed by Mary Ong before the NBI, CIDG and the DOJ, hence, I filed and was granted a temporary restraining order by Hon. Judge Hermogenes Liwag of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch 55, on June 4, 2001, raising the issue of forum shopping. Not satisfied, Ms. Mary Ong, in conspiracy with Victor Corpus, brought the same allegations before the Senate, and unfortunately, we fell into the trap, Mr. President.

No. 3. I have caused the filing of libel cases against Victor Corpus, Ramon Tulfo and the editors and writers of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, including Ms. Mary Ong which both criminal and civil cases are still pending before the Las Piņas Metropolitan Trial Court and the Makati Regional Trial Court. It is worth mentioning, Mr. President, that Victor Corpus and the others are now out on bail on account of the said libel cases that I filed.

No. 4. To prove that the purpose of this whole exercise is political, I have documents to show that Victor Corpus was reporting to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo in the latter's office at LTI Building in Makati City and even received substantial amount of money to finance his effort to vilify this Representation including his stint trip to the United States and other countries to look for the alleged laundered money of this Representation.

As a backgrounder, Mr. President, the investigation conducted by the Senate Joint Committees on Public Order and Illegal Drugs; Blue Ribbon; and National Defense and Security, chaired by the honorable Senators Barbers, Arroyo and Magsaysay, Jr., came into fore because of an article which appeared in some of the country's daily newspapers regarding the expose of ISAFP Chief Victor Corpus on the alleged money laundered by this Representation in various banks in the United States, Canada and Hong Kong and the allegations made by an alleged former civilian agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, Angelo "Ador" Mawanay, who, by the way, is not known to this Representation nor has been an informer or an agent of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, regarding the alleged involvement of the task force in certain illegal activities, like kidnapping for ransom, summary execution, smuggling and illegal drug transactions.

To put things in their proper perspective, let it be noted that the Senate committees that conducted the investigation on this matter were guided by two Senate resolutions and a privilege speech delivered by Senator Barbers on August 15, 2001. These are: "RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC ORDER AND ILLEGAL DRUGS, JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS AND INVESTIGATION TO INQUIRE, IN AID OF LEGISLATION INTO THE VERACITY OF THE CLAIMS AND STATEMENT OF ANGELO MAWANAY, ALSO KNOWN AS "ADOR" LINKING CERTAIN HIGH RANKING OFFICIALS OF THE DEFUNCT PAOCTF AND OTHER WELL-KNOWN PERSONALITIES TO ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES SUCH AS KIDNAP FOR RANSOM, SUMMARY EXECUTION, SMUGGLING , AND ILLEGAL DRUG TRANSACTIONS, WITH THE END IN VIEW OF ENACTING REMEDIAL MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE SAME" by Sen. Robert Z. Barbers, and Proposed Senate Resolution No. 98, entitled "RESOLUTION STRONGLY URGING THE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY TO INQUIRE, LOOK INTO AND INVESTIGATE, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, THE POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES LEADERSHIP IN THE POSSIBLE FABRICATION OF EVIDENCE AGAINST A SENATOR OF THE REPUBLIC, WITH END IN VIEW OF DETERMINING WHETHER SUCH THREATENING ACT COULD POSE DETRIMENT TO THE SAFETY OF EVERY ORDINARY CITIZEN" by Sen. Vicente C. Sotto, III.

It is also worth mentioning that while Colonel Corpus presented a discredited witness described as unreliable and without credence in the person of Angelo "Ador" Mawanay, the committee still proceeded to submit the committee report.

Since Ador Mawanay has been declared to be unreliable and without credence, sanctions other than admonition and strong reprimand should have been imposed on his handlers for presenting him before the Senate. Instead, admonition, strong reprimand and warning were imposed on Colonel Corpus because of ISAFP's blunder and show of disregard to the person of Senator Barber's Deputy Chief of Staff, Atty. Stephen Villaflor.

No sanction of whatever kind was however imposed on Colonel Corpus for purveying a witness like Mawanay who made wild, baseless and unfounded accusations against this Representation as though this Representation is a lesser mortal than Atty. Villaflor.

So there is no such thing as an "Old Boys Club" in this Chamber, Mr. President, as alleged by several opinion-writers.

Furthermore, what is likewise apparent in this committee report is the fact that although ISAFP's main witness was Ador Mawanay, the committees conducting the hearing relied heavily on the testimony of Mary "Rosebud" Ong who failed a simple debriefing procedure conducted by the U.S. authorities to determine her credibility as a witness in such debriefing. And this was taken up during one of the committee hearings. U.S. Customs officials branded Rosebud's statements as full of inconsistencies, half-truths and half-lies. Due to this, she was assessed as a witness without credibility.

Rosebud was called upon to corroborate the testimony of Mawanay, which the committee found to be unreliable and without credence. Borrowing a quote for the committee report that resulted in his testimony from being expunged from the record, considering that none of the statements made by the main witness was ever considered by the committees, "I wonder why a corroborating witness whose function was merely to substantiate what the main witness was testifying to was relied upon by the committees in making the conclusion.

It is also worth mentioning, Mr. President, that sometime in July, then Col. Victor Corpus asked for a meeting with the Hon. Senator and Majority Leader Loren Legarda Leviste concerning some documents or information which Ador had against her for purposes of verification. If Col. Corpus verified this information with Senator Legarda before doing something with the allegations, why did he not verity the information he had against this representation before coming out in the media with his expose? Is it not political, Mr. President?

Col. Corpus admitted during his questioning by the then Hon. Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., that they were still in the process of gathering evidence to substantiate their allegation against this Representation, when he leaked the information of the alleged bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly owned by this Representation. When further asked who authorized him to do it and the reasons why he did it, Corpus answered that he did it on his own volition; that nobody forced him to do it or nobody coached him to do it; and that he leaked it because he believed that the alleged secret accounts had to be known by the public for the protection of the public interest because if he will keep those files in his vault or in his secret files just to gather dust, he felt it would be criminal on his part to have done it.

Subsequent answers of the good colonel or the bad colonel would reveal the distrust he had for the institutions underlying our system of government.

He even mentioned the name of the Hon. Senator Vicente C. Sotto III as one of the bad eggs in the Senate. If Col. Corpus, really had the goods on this Representation, as what he claimed, the proper thing for him to do is to file appropriate charges in court and not engage in trial by publicity. Unfortunately, this Chamber, this august Chamber, fell into that trap.

Going to Mary Ong. Mary Ong is a proven liar, an uncontested fabricator of facts for monetary gain and protection. That is what she was after.

Mary Ong Gaba is a pathological liar and involved in various criminal activities. She has a long list of criminal court cases resulting in multi-million estafa and credit fraud. She was out on bail for Criminal Case No. 186454 to 186457 for Violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 filed against her by Mr. Robert Chan and Lily Chan as a Casino financier. She was also charged by the American Express and was arrested by the NBI agents. She and her family were likewise involved in a string of estafa cases. How then could we expect truth from the undocumented and self-serving narrations of a financially disturbed witness? The reason, obviously, is financial gain, Mr. President.

Now on the findings.

On the alleged kidnap-for-ransom of Chinese nationals, Chong Hiu Ming, Wong Kam Chong, spouses Zeng Jia Xuanm and Hong Zhen Qiao, their nephew Zeng Kang Fang and dirver James Ong, allegedly perpetrated by this Representation together with Police Director Acop, Superintendent Campos, and Superintendent Villaroman, and the subsequent assignment of the said case for investigation to Superintendent Villaroman, who, himself, is a suspect in violation of existing rules and regulations.

Mr. President, at that time, I was not yet the Chief of the Philippine National Police and there was no way I could order another PNP officer belonging to another unit to conduct investigation. Furthermore, the supposed assignment of the alleged kidnapping case to Police Superintendent Villaroman does not find support in fact and in law and it is being belied by the statement of Villaroman himself and Atty. Raul Bacalso's report. Ms. Ong was not even aware that a report on the alleged kidnapping perpetrated by the official concerned was submitted by the investigation officer. A memorandum dated December 22, 2000 clearly shows that the investigation was handled by Senior Superintendent Raul Bacalso and not Superintendent Villaroman.

There was another allegation made by Mary Ong that on May 7, 1998, I partook of the proceeds of recycled drugs with my men when they confiscated or we confiscated certain amount of methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as "shabu."

Mr. President, on May 7, 1998, former President Estrada was not yet elected into office. I had no men under me. I was on floating status.

There was also this allegation that two drug dealers or drug peddlers were arrested off the coast of Occidental Mindoro by police operatives, and that I and my men allowed those two arrested drug suspects to go scot-free because of monetary consideration and were allowed to leave the country.

Mr. President, the two suspected drug dealers are still detained in the provincial jail of Occidental Mindoro, and this can be attested to by the provincial warden, himself.

Another allegation was the alleged kidnapping of Chinese nationals in Baguio City wherein my people were supposed to be involved, Mr. President. These Chinese nationals were not kidnapped. They were arrested and, in fact, they had been convicted by the Baguio City Regional Trial Court and can be verified to be still languishing in the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

I am just pointing out the lies, the fabrications made by the primary witness, Mary Ong alias "Rosebud," as she was corroborating the statement of a witness without credence and unreliable witness in the person of Ador Mawanay.

There are so many inconsistencies, Mr. President, there are so many lies and these can all be verified. And so as not to take too much time of this august Body, I would just like to submit a motion.

I move that the Committee Report No. 237 be subjected to further hearings at the committee level to elucidate on the following matters:

1. My alleged involvement on the alleged kidnapping of certain Chinese nationals on the basis of my alleged assignment of the said case to the said person who, himself, was the alleged kidnapper.

   I therefore move that Police Senior Supt. Raul Bacalso be summoned to disprove the allegation of Mary Ong.

2. The alleged participation of the defunct PAOCTF on the alleged shipment of drugs in Mindoro.

   I move that the Provincial Warden of Occidental Mindoro be summoned to testify as to the status of the two drug suspects who were said to have been released by my people on account of monetary consideration.

3. The alleged kidnapping of Chinese nationals that were actually convicted in Baguio City. I move that the Clerk of Court of that particular Regional Trial Court in Baguio City be summoned to show the records of their convictions.

I, so move, Mr. President.