A Senate panel on Monday, May 20, cited former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent Jonathan Morales in contempt for continuously lying.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada made the motion during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs on the alleged leak of confidential documents from PDEA.
Estrada was questioning the Personal Data Sheet (PDS) that Morales submitted to PDEA, wherein he asked if the latter misrepresented himself in of the items listed which involved his dismissal from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the string of cases hounding him.
According to the senator, he was giving Morales a chance to redeem himself and to establish his credibility as a resource person.
On the other hand, Morales questioned the authenticity of the PDS copy that Estrada was referring to if it was legitimate and asked for the original copy. However, PDEA said that it was a certified true copy.
The former PDEA agent examined the photocopy of the PDS and later recognized that the handwriting was indeed his.
When asked again by Estrada if he misrepresented himself when he accomplished the PDS, Morales said that he was not the one who answered it despite recognizing his own handwriting.
"E sinungaling talaga ito...Mr Chair, tinanong ko kanina kung pirma niya ito and he already admitted na pirma niya ito. Tinanong ko rin kung handwriting niya ito, first question, is this your handwriting? Sabi niya hindi niya maalala. Nung pinresent ko ulit yung kanyang itong PDS sa kanya , pinag-aralan niya, inamin niya na handwriting na daw niya (He is really lying...Mr. Chair, I asked him earlier if this is his signature and he already admitted that this is his signature. I also asked him if this is his handwriting, my first question was , is this your handwriting? He said he can't recall. When I presented again his PDS to him, he analyzed it, he admitted that it is indeed his handwriting)," Estrada explained.
"Now, he is denying na hindi niya sinagot itong isang question. Eh sino naglagay ng no? Multo? (Now he is denying that he did not answer this one question. Then who put 'no' here? A ghost?)" he added.
PDEA on the other hand, denied answering or filling out details in Morales' PDS stating that "PDEA is not Jonathan Morales" to do such a thing.
"Mr. Chair, I move that he (Morales) be cited in contempt for continuously lying before this committee," Estrada said.
Estrada has since been hesitant to consider Morales’ allegations as credible given the latter’s ongoing legal proceedings and dismissal from PDEA due to dishonesty and misconduct.
Meanwhile, before Morales, Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa also cited in contempt another resource person, Eric "Pikoy" Santiago, a former National Police Commission (Napolcom) employee for lying.
Dela Rosa has decided not to wrap up the yet Semate panel's hearing to wait for the statement of Indian businessman James Kumar who was not able to attend the hearing due to health complications.
The motu propio hearing stemmed from the interview of Morales with a vlogger regarding the leakage of a confidential document that contained the alleged involvement of President Marcos and actress Maricel Soriano in illegal drugs.
This was based on the pre-operation report that Morales himself penned.
According to the document, dated March 11, 2012, a confidential informant personally appeared before PDEA to report that a group of showbiz and political personalities are frequently using illegal drugs at unit 46-C, Rizal Tower Building, in Rockwell located in Makati City.
This is the same unit that Soriano admitted she formerly owned.
There was also a separate document providing authority to operate for surveillance and casing in Makati City that involved vehicles that belonged to the PDEA. Yet this did not push through, according to Morales.