Bato on alleged Marcos, Soriano drug use: Just plain info, far from truth

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday said the alleged involvement of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and actress Maricel Soriano in illegal drugs is just "plain information" and still "far from the truth."

"That remained an information. Malayo pa 'yan sa katotohanan na talagang drug user si Maricel Soriano at former senator Bongbong Marcos," Dela Rosa told Dobol B TV in an interview.

(Claims that Maricel Soriano and former senator Bongbong Marcos are drug users are still far from truth.)

Dela Rosa is spearheading a Senate inquiry into the alleged leaked Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) pre-operation report in 2012 that mentioned the names of Marcos and Soriano.

"Malayong-malayo pa 'yan sa katotohanan dahil impormasyon pa lang yan, plain information (That's still far from the truth because that's just plain information)," he said.

A former national police chief, Dela Rosa said the PDEA report "remained to be verified" as the operation did not push through.

"Magka-conduct sila ng verification, validation sa information na 'yan, but unluckily nahinto (They were supposed to conduct verification on that information but unforunately it was stopped)," he said.

During the Senate investigation on the so-called "PDEA leaks," former PDEA intelligence officer Jonathan Morales, who claimed signing the two documents that circulated on social media, said the supposed operation to verify Marcos and Soriano's involvement in illegal drugs in 2012 did not push through because it was stopped by then-PDEA deputy director general Carlos Gadapan.

Morales claimed that Gadapan told him not to conduct the operation because of an order from then-Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. 

While there were questions on the credibility of Morales as resource person and despite the insistence of PDEA that the alleged leaked documents were non-existent, Dela Rosa reiterated that he is convinced that the pre-operations report and the authority to operate had existed but these were not in the possession of the anti-drug agency.

Asked if the accusation against Marcos and Soriano is worth pursuing, Dela Rosa emphasized anew that he is investigating to find out the circumstances that led to the leakage of the PDEA documents, and not to "convict" anyone whose names were tagged in the supposed pre-operations report.

"Ang worth pursuing is 'yung act of leaking this document, pero 'yung pagiging user ni Maricel Soriano, or pagiging user ni former Senator Bongbong Marcos, for me it's not worth pursuing," he said.

During the latest hearing, Soriano told the Senate committee that she was not aware of the supposed leaked PDEA documents, and that she is clueless on why she was invited to the hearing.

While she denied any involvement in illegal drugs, Soriano admitted that she once owned the condominium unit that was indicated on the supposed pre-operation report, but she said she already sold it in 2012 — the same year that the PDEA document was supposedly filed.

The document, dated March 11, 2012, indicated that "a group of showbiz and politically affluent personalities are frequently using illegal drugs" inside a condominium unit in Makati City.

When sought for comment during a public appearance earlier this week, Marcos just laughed off the allegation that he was involved in illegal drugs.  —KBK, GMA Integrated News