Blancaflor: 'Alabang Boys' issue being used to oust me
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 01/05/2009 11:05 AM
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Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said Monday that his name may have been dragged into the high-profile drug case of the "Alabang Boys" to make him resign from his post.
Blancaflor said he had received reports that some people, including those from the Department of Justice, want him removed from his post because of the sensitivity of the cases he is handling.
"It's too early to say who they are, but as you may recall, I handle a lot in DOJ today: human trafficking, illegal recruitment, media killings, extra-judicial killings, and terrorism. Maybe a lot of people hold a grudge against me. Maybe they think that because I'm too nice, I won't fight back if they try to do something [to damage my reputation]," he told radio dzMM.
"Siguro pino-project ako," he added.
He noted that the Philippine Daily Inquirer banner story that identified him as the justice official who asked about the release of the three "Alabang Boys" did not give him enough space to explain his side.
"It's obvious in the Inquirer report. Ten paragraphs were about Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, five paragraphs about [Secretary Raul] Gonzalez, while they only wrote one paragraph about me, and all it said was 'no comment.' When in fact, [the reporter] Arlyn dela Cruz interviewed me for around 30 minutes and I explained everything," he said.
According to the Inquirer report, Blancaflor called PDEA Service Head Major Ferdinand Marcelino to follow up the release of the three "Alabang Boys" Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph, and Joseph Tecson after the DOJ recommended the dismissal of the case. The three boys were arrested last September for allegedly peddling drugs.
Marcelino said he told Blancaflor that the case was still under review after PDEA revealed of an alleged bribery attempt for the suspects' release.
Asked why he kept mum on his follow-up call last year to Marcelino, Blancaflor said: "I only saw my name yesterday in the papers. Why would I volunteer to explain myself before that? My conscience is clean, I just helped out."
PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago also saw nothing wrong in Blancaflor's call to Marcelino. He said that even he occasionally consults with the justice undersecretary.
Santiago said that Marcelino may have misconstrued Blancaflor's inquiry as exerting pressure since he is not yet used to taking such calls, which are usually made between senior-level heads of PDEA.
"Maybe it just so happened that he [Blancaflor] got to ask someone who's younger and relatively new to the position, and he felt that pressure was exerted on him," Santiago said in an interview at ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda."
"As a matter of fact, after Major Marcelino talked to him, he [Blancaflor] didn't follow up anymore. He kept quiet already," he added.
Meanwhile, when asked why he called Marcelino instead of Santiago, Blancaflor said: "I only have Major Marcelino's mobile number...Gen. Santiago said that I should contact Major Marcelino should I be unable to contact him."
"That night [when I was trying to contact Gen. Santiago], there was a Christmas party. I constantly tried to contact him but no one's answering [the phone]. That's why I called him [Marcelino]," he said.
Santiago confirmed Blancaflor's statement, and stressed that the justice undersecretary did nothing wrong.
"There is no influence, no pressure. I know Undersecretary Blancaflor," he said.
After his name was dragged into the "Alabang Boys" issue, Blancaflor said that he will never make such calls again, even if others may get mad at him for not helping them out.
"I have a New Year's resolution. I will not make calls again, even if a friend asks me to, even if others get mad at me. I only tried to help out, I only tried to do what's right. But unfortunately, what I did was even taken against me," he said.
Despite this, however, Blancaflor stressed that his conscience was clean, saying that he only wanted to avoid future controversies.
