Palace spox: Defensor is another Mawanay
Former Rep. Mike Defensor’s warning that another group of former Marines would soon come forward with supposed firsthand accounts of an alleged bribery scheme in the administration of President Marcos is turning him into another Ador Mawanay, according to Palace press officer Claire Castro.
Mawanay—whose real name is Antonio Luis Marquez—falsely accused Sen. Panfilo Lacson over two decades ago of alleged criminal activities but later retracted his statements and was stripped of witness protection by the government.
On Tuesday, lawyer Levito Baligod presented 18 supposed ex-Marines who had served as “bagmen” and delivered a total of P805 billion in kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects.
The Philippine Navy said at least four of the 18 men were never members of the Marine Corps and most of the others were dishonorably discharged for various offenses and called them opportunists.
Baligod said Mr. Marcos was the brains behind the kickback scheme that benefitted 26 lawmakers. The money supposedly came from fugitive former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co.
Responding to Defensor’s warning, Castro described him as a “known wonder boy” and called him “Ador Mawanay 2.0.”
“Many of his speeches encourage our fellow citizens to remove our President from office. We already know the motive,” she said.
“The name ‘Mawanay’ is known because of the alleged coercion that forced him to fabricate an affidavit,” Castro said.
In 2001, Mawanay, who claimed at that time that he was a former agent of the Estrada administration’s Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, linked Lacson to a slew of crimes.
Retraction
These include drug trafficking, money laundering and maintaining multimillion-dollar US bank accounts with proceeds from kidnapping, drug trafficking, smuggling and bank robberies. He said Lacson was also involved in kidnapping and murder, specifically the 1998 abduction and killing of Edgar Bentain, an employee of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and public relations practitioner Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver in 2000.
In 2003, Mawanay retracted all his allegations against Lacson. As a consequence, he was removed from the government’s witness protection program.
Victor Corpus, who was the military intelligence chief in 2001, later said he was “taken for a ride” by Mawanay, whom he publicly presented to make the allegations against Lacson. He publicly and privately apologized to Lacson in 2017.
Mawanay also admitted that he had presented bogus documents that showed Lacson had $700 million in offshore accounts.
In May 2020, Mawanay was arrested in Pasig City for allegedly duping a doctor in a P12-million medical supply deal. The estafa complaint alleged that he was paid to supply 200,000 face masks but did not deliver them.
Castro said Malacañang received information that a person associated with the Arroyo administration whose role as an “operator was simply to muddle the issues.”
“If this person is involved in an issue, something is fishy,” she said without naming the individual.
Defensor previously served as a key Cabinet official under Arroyo, holding posts as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Malacañang chief of staff.
‘Spice Boys’
As a congressman during the Estrada administration, Defensor was part of a group of young lawmakers who became known as the “Spice Boys” critical of the Estrada administration.
Reacting to Castro’s statements, Defensor said she should be “very careful” in making pronouncements, given that she represents President Marcos with her words.
“This is not a market or a ‘sari-sari’ store where rumors can be thrown around like a gossiping Maritess,” he said in a statement.
“She speaks for the President and represents Malacañang,” Defensor said. “Her words and posturing must be sober, precise, and statesmanlike. Let them respond to the real issue.”
He added that if the administration was truly serious about curbing corruption, it should urge the Senate blue ribbon committee, the committee on good government of the House, and the Ombudsman to conduct a full and impartial investigation based on the testimonies of the ex-Marines.
“Transparency and accountability—that should be the priority, not diversion,” Defensor said. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
