BuCor's Padilla qualified as witness on drug war deaths -solon

Bureau of Corrections Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla, who said that he was told to back off a kill order on three Chinese inmates convicted of drug charges, knows enough of the drug war deaths to qualify as a state witness, House Public Order and Safety Committee Chairperson Dan Fernandez said Friday.

During his recent appearance before several house committees, Padilla asked for and was granted an executive session with lawmakers for his and his family's safety.

An executive session is a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and resource persons, and is not open to the public, including journalists. Disclosure of topics discussed during an executive session needs the approval of the majority of the lawmakers.

“I am not at liberty to say anything about it for now. Ang masasabi ko lamang, medyo very significant iyong mga revelation niya roon. And I think that will constitute him being a part... most likely, under the WPP (Witness Protection Program) [for state witnesses],” Fernandez told reporters in a virtual press conference.

As to whether Padilla qualified as a state witness and if the committee would recommend that he be made one, Fernandez said, “Yes. very much [likely we will] recommend him to the WPP.”

Padilla, a former officer-in-charge of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, had told the four joint House committees probing the drug war deaths during then President Rodrigo Duterte's administration that a high-ranking Davao City police official called him and told him not to interfere in an operation to kill Chinese inmates convicted of drug offenses.

These inmates were detained at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in August 2016.

"To my mind, the call... was intense pressure and threat to me because I knew for a fact of the operation made against a certain drug lord in Leyte days before,” Padilla added.

Ong’s transfer possible

Meanwhile, Fernandez and House Dangerous Drugs Committee Chairperson and Surigao del Norte Representative Ace Barbers said that the House would send Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firm Lucky South 99's authorized representative Cassandra Ong to the Correctional Women's facility for detention if she continued with her inconsistent statements and refusal to answer questions during the ongoing House investigation on trafficking of persons, torture and scam operations, among other alleged illegal activities in POGO sites.

“We asked her about her income tax return, and if there was a donation to her made by her parents... we need to find out the income or work of her parents for us to know how she was able to acquire that huge amount of money. Sinungaling talaga iyong bata,” Fernandez told reporters in a virtual press conference.

Ong had refused to answer questions about whether she filed her income tax return or whether she had any documents to prove her parents donated her money.

Likewise, Ong also refused to answer the lawmakers’ questions as to how much she earned as an incorporator of Whirlwind Corporation.

Whirlwind Corporation owned the land in Porac, Pampanga that was leased to POGO firms, including Lucky South 99.

“We were giving her a chance because we thought she would cooperate, but it seems she is dead serious in not cooperating with us. She initially said she would sign a bank waiver, and then the situation changed. How can we be assured that she is no dummy when she handles millions worth of money, and even Whirlwind Corporation... the assessment value of which stands at P2.5 billion? That does not even include Lucky South 99 earnings,” Fernandez said.

“So, in the next hearing on Thursday, we hope that she already feels better, and we’ll be asking her questions for the last time. If she refuses to answer, then probably we're done with her and we can cite her in contempt for telling lies. And I feel she should be transferred to the Women's Correctional facility,” Fernandez added.

Ong is currently hospitalized in Taguig due to low blood pressure.

Barbers agreed, saying Ong’s dilly-dallying would not be tolerated.

The House committees initially issued a contempt order on Ong and ordered that she be detained at the Batasan for refusal to appear at a House investigation. 

The House had planned to cite her in contempt for the second time and send her to the Women's Correctional facility for 30 days after she refused to answer questions when she first appeared in a hearing last August 28.
 
But this was deferred as Ong later relented and answered queries from time to time.

Meanwhile, Barbers rejected Ong’s testimony that Duanren Wu, her boss and one of the Whirlwind Corporation’s incorporators, was a former retired Chinese police official who decided to do business in the Philippines.

“How could this guy have amassed so much wealth from being a policeman in China? Ong said she was a simple police official. That’s doubtful because you need to spend a lot of money on this kind of business. For one, you need money to buy land, and secondly, you need money to build those buildings. This is not a small-time business,” Barbers said.

“We also have information that those who torture Chinese employees of POGO firms are former police officials from China. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think that these people are connected to syndicates in China, and they decided to commit crimes here because they feel the environment is conducive here. It’s like they are in a fiesta here since they are able to acquire land, fake IDs and pretend they are Filipinos,” Barbers added. — DVM, GMA Integrated News