SENATE EYES PROBE INTO DRUG BRIBE ISSUE

MANILA, Philippines--The Senate will look into the P50 million drug
bribe charge hurled by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)
against the Department of Justice with the end view of resolving the
lingering conflict between enforcement and judicial bodies in the drug
war.

In a text message to reporters, Dangerous Drugs Board chair Vicente
"Tito" Sotto III said Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan agreed to lead a
Senate probe into the P50-million drug bribe after sharing his
concerns on the diverse impacts of the controversy on the drug war
with the chair of the Senate committee on public order, safety and
illegal drugs.

"He (Honasan) shared my concerns on the disconnect between two
government agencies that should be cooperating with each other.
Senator Honasan said he will immediately call for an investigation in
aid of legislation to get to the bottom of this and reconcile the
undue conflict between the enforcement and judicial agencies. I have
been saying all along there is a need to fix the structure so that all
agencies will be on the same page all the time," said Sotto who
authored the law which created the PDEA in 2002.

Honasan's executive assistant, Peachie Urquiola, confirmed that
Honasan would conduct an investigation into the matter and that he was
in close coordination with the DDB head Sotto and the PDEA.

The PDEA claimed that it has received information that P50 million was
spent for the release of Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph
and Joseph Ramirez Tecson, members of the "Alabang Boys", who have
been detained in the agency's Quezon City detention center in the last
three months.

The three were caught in a buy-bust operation in Ayala Alabang and at
the south gate of Araneta Center in Quezon City where they were caught
with 60 tablets of ecstasy, packets of marijuana and sachets of
cocaine. The PDEA made the accusation after the DOJ dismissed the
charges against the three early this month.

The P50-million drug bribe piqued the interest of La Union Rep. Tomas
Dumpit who took note of a drug bust in his hometown that had a similar
ending. In a text message to reporters, Dumpit said: "That's very
possible just like the case in Naguilian, La Union where a shabu
(methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory was discovered in Barangay
Bimotobot worth one trillion pesos but it was dismissed by the DOJ."

The "shabu" laboratory was raided last July 9 by a composite team of
the PDEA and the local police who found eight truckloads of equipment
and chemicals that they believe could produce 180,000 kilograms of the
banned substance.