EX-PDEA AGENT COULDN’T RECALL NAME OF INFORMANT BEHIND DOCUMENT LEAK

MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) investigation agent Jonathan Morales said on Tuesday that he could not recall the identity of the confidential informant of the agency’s leaked documents linking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and actress Maricel Soriano to illegal drug use.

During the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs’ resumption of its investigation on PDEA’s leaked documents, Morales said he could not remember the source’s name.

“Di ko na po matandaan (I could no longer recall), your honor,” Morales said, which irked Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who asked about the source’s identity.

“Alam mo ikaw Morales nagbabanggit ka ng mga pangalan ng personalidad ultimo pangalan ng presidente, pangalan ng sikat na artista na wala ka naman ebidensya. Ang sabi mo galing sa informant ngayon sinasabi mo di mo matandaan? Naninira ka lang ng tao eh,” Estrada said.

(Morales, you are mentioning names of prominent personalities, even the name of the president and famous actress, without evidence. You said it came from an informant but could not recall the name? You are just ruining the names of these people.)

Morales explained that he needed to see the document first before he could fully recall the informant’s identity, but said that he remembered details of what the source told him.

Upon hearing this, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the committee chairman, asked Morales if he could not remember the name or just him refusing to break the agreement between him and the informant.

The former PDEA official said he could not really recall, prompting Dela Rosa about the source’s gender.

“Mahirap kasi kung i-divulge ko po yung kasarian ng confidential informant  manganganib buhay non,” Morales reasoned out.

(It’s difficult to divulge the gender of the confidential informant; doing so could put their life in danger.)

Pressing Morales more, Dela Rosa proposed conducting an executive session so Morales could reveal the informant’s identity. However, the former PDEA agent said he would only agree to reveal the source’s gender.

On April 30, the upper chamber began its inquiry into the PDEA’s leaked March 11, 2012 documents, the Authority to Operate and a Pre-Operation Report.

During the previous hearing, PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo categorically stated that the documents were fake.

Morales, who signed the papers, refuted this as he maintained that the documents that were leaked and connected Marcos and Soriano to illegal drugs were real.

A day after, on May 1, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said that he was convinced that the “leaked” documents were not fabricated, saying that Morales is “very straightforward.”

2024-05-07T05:59:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd