By Roy Pelovello

A CONGRESSMAN yesterday asked a suspected pusher how best to win the war on drugs.

At a hearing of the House committee on dangerous drugs, Para?aque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita asked Richard Brodett, one of three affluent suspects arrested in a sting operation last year, for suggestions on how best to improve the government?s anti-drug operations.

Testifying on allegations that Justice Department officials were bribed to let him and co-accused Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson go free, Brodett said law enforcement officers were already too powerful.

?They seem to conduct themselves like gods,? said Brodett, describing agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

?They can just go around, and they can apprehend anyone and detain them with no bail?especially the poor who have no way of defending themselves.?

Brodett, who claims he was unjustly arrested, said that he had been studying the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002, and found that the Drug Enforcement Agency haf too much authority.

On sting operations, he said, drug enforcement agents should be compelled to bring along a witness from another agency, such as the National Bureau of Investigation, to prevent abuse.

Brodett also testified that during his arrest, an anti-drug agent hit him in the face with a rifle butt, while others took turns kicking him.

But at the same hearing, PDEA Special Enforcement Service chief Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino said the sting operation against the so-called Alabang Boys had been proper, with all the legal requirements met.

?We have been conducting buy-bust operations like this for quite a long time,? Marcelino said.

?In fact, one of the operations we had similar to this, which was handled by Prosecutor [John] Resado, was eventually filed in court.?

Resado was the Justice Department prosecutor who recommended dropping the charges against Brodett, Joseph and Tecson.

Marcelino disputed Brodett?s claim that he was beaten.

Brodett and Tecson testified at yesterday?s hearing after committee members threatened them with contempt if they did not.

Earlier, their lawyer said they would invoke their right to remain silent and against self-incrimination.

At the start of the hearing, committee chairman and Ilocos Norte Rep. Roque Ablan inhibited himself from presiding over the hearing, saying one of Joseph?s lawyers had worked on his staff.