President Marcos on Friday called former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent Jonathan Morales a “professional liar” following the latter’s alleged PDEA leaks.
“It’s hard to give importance to that. You know, this fellow is a professional liar and like a jukebox. Whatever you drop—just drop some money, whatever song you want, he’ll sing it,” President Marcos told reporters partly in Filipino.
“That seems to be his job, that’s why I call him a professional liar,” he added.
The President further pointed out Morales’ past misdeeds including his history in false testimony.
“Just look at his record, he has a case of false testimony. That’s how it is. He has a history of implicating people in all sorts of issues,” President Marcos noted.
Morales is under Senate investigation over the alleged leaked documents from the agency linking notable personalities such as President Marcos to illegal drug use.
PDEA, however, refuted Morales’ confessions and listed the leaked documents as fake.
Meanwhile, a legislator from Mindanao has appealed to senators and congressmen to conduct due diligence and complete staff work (CSW) in handling investigations in aid of legislation so as not to waste valuable government resources.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House committee on dangerous drugs, made the call amid the dismal outcome of the probe on the alleged “PDEA Leaks”, initiated by the Senate committee on public order chaired by reelectionist Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa.
The probe is based on a lone witness’ written claim that was already dismissed as non-existent by PDEA yet being resurrected and given attention 12 years after its alleged filing by dismissed PDEA anti-drug agent Jonathan Morales.
“The people were tortured in listening to Mr. Morales’ arrogant presentation of myths and fairy tales, hearsays and double hearsays, uncorroborated and unfounded allegations without an iota of evidence to support them,” he said.
“I am no expert in the rules on evidence, but it would be foolhardy for anybody to validate and authenticate any evidence, the existence of which was already denied by the agency which is the official custodian of such documents. If the document is fake, we should not waste time looking for the original because there is none,” Barbers said.
Morales, who is now masquerading as an anti-drug crusader under a group called “Anti-Drug Advocate Laban ng Pamilyang Pilipino Center for Investigative Regulatory Compliance”, had been dismissed from the police service and as PDEA agent for his alleged involvement in various administrative and criminal offenses.
“Engaging the unfounded and uncorroborated claims and narratives of Mr. Morales is just a waste of time, money and government resources. It’s much ado about nothing. He is found to be having selective memories of events, like some barbershop rumor, when asked to provide details of his tales and allegations,” Barbers said.
The solon from Surigao del Norte disclosed that some quarters have earlier urged him to conduct a probe in aid of legislation on the alleged “PDEA Leaks” and Morales, but he flatly turned it down after learning of the latter’s questionable credibility and shady past as a police officer and PDEA agent.
“Lawmakers should always be circumspect and discerning before presenting any resource person’s testimony or evidence. We should all be cautious in conducting deep background checks on their credibility so we won’t get fake news, so to speak.”
More importantly, Barbers added “We should not waste scarce and valuable government resource when conducting investigations in aid of legislation with only one witness who is not at all credible and based solely on that witness’ fake document and hearsay allegations so that we don’t get accused of grandstanding, or in the worst case scenario, used in a demolition job.”
This developed as Isabela Rep. Faustino Dy V remained baffled as to why Sen. Bato dela Rosa’s inquiry on the so-called “PDEA leaks” will get a third round in the Senate next week. This, despite it receiving a deluge of criticisms, not only from fellow senators but also members of the Lower House.
“It’s surprising that it will even reach the third hearing. This is a clear waste of time and a waste of governments’ money, waste of taxpayers’ money,” said Dy.
“For me this is a dead end. There is clearly a motivation why someone would keep pushing, or will keep pushing for this to really malign someone, malign our President, malign the actress that was also involved, Maricel Soriano,” he added.
The center of the controversy, PDEA agent Morales, was dismissed due to dishonesty and misconduct. The supposed documents he presented were already denied by the PDEA itself as non-existent, but still Sen. Dela Rosa is dragging the hearings on.
Senate President Migz Zubiri has already called on his colleagues to exercise caution in maligning personalities in the Senate hearings. Sens. Chiz Escudero and Jinggoy Estrada both grilled Morales and attacked his credibility.
Dy said that it has already been proven that the documents Morales is presenting are at best spurious and that he has no credibility to vouch for what he is accusing the President of.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Marcos calls ex-PDEA agent linking him to drugs a ‘professional liar.’”