NO COMMENT

Marcos laughs off allegations linking him to drug use

MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. laughed off on Monday, May 6, 2024, the allegations linking him to illegal drug use.

In an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) Day in Pasay City, Marcos was asked to comment on the ongoing Senate investigation on the alleged leak of a confidential document from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) showing him as among the targets of an anti-drug operation in 2012.

Marcos earlier said he will not “dignify” the allegations linking him to illegal drugs.

The investigation was led by committee on public order and dangerous drug chairperson Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the former chief of the Philippine National Police and a known staunch supporter of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte earlier launched several attacks against Marcos, his successor, even calling him a drug addict and “bangag,” a term locally used to describe someone who is high on illegal drugs.

He said the PDEA showed him a list of drug personalities that includes Marcos.

Several weeks after Duterte’s tirades, an Authority to Operate and a Pre-Operation Report, both dated March 11, 2012 and allegedly issued by PDEA, made rounds online and showed Marcos as among the targets.

During the Senate probe, Jonathan Morales, a former PDEA agent, claimed legitimacy of the document, saying he was the one who processed it and interviewed the asset.

But in the same hearing, PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo maintained that there were no such documents on the PDEA Plans and Operations Reports Management Information System or Pormis.

He admitted, however, that there was no PORMIS yet in 2012 but they have a Data Monitoring System.